


Get Back to Where I Belong

by QuixoticKitsune



Category: TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band), World of Warcraft
Genre: AU, Action/Adventure, Angst and Feels, Author is just more familiar with it than DnD, Blood and Minor Injury, Fantasy AU, Fantasy Violence, Gen, Huening Kai-Centric, Magic, More tags to be added, Platonic OT5, Platonic Relationships, WoW NPCs play minor roles, WoW knowledge is not needed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-18 16:09:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 33,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28995000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuixoticKitsune/pseuds/QuixoticKitsune
Summary: "What's wrong with him? Is it a curse?" Yeonjun asks worriedly."No, there's absolutely nothing wrong with him," Taehyun says. "He's just notourHuening Kai."Hueningkai finds himself in quite the predicament. One moment, he's practicing for their next comeback and the next he wakes up in a forest. His bandmates are all there, but they are a little bit off. Hueningkai must quickly learn the rules of this land if he's ever going to make it back home, back to where he belongs.
Relationships: Choi Beomgyu & Choi Soobin, Choi Beomgyu & Choi Yeonjun, Choi Beomgyu & Huening Kai, Choi Beomgyu & Kang Taehyun, Choi Soobin & Choi Yeonjun, Choi Soobin & Huening Kai, Choi Soobin & Kang Taehyun, Choi Yeonjun & Huening Kai, Choi Yeonjun & Kang Taehyun, Huening Kai & Everyone, Huening Kai & Kang Taehyun
Comments: 54
Kudos: 122





	1. Chapter 1

It started off as a very normal day.

Hueningkai gets up in the morning and carefully steps around Soobin, who once again was locked out of his own bedroom by Beomgyu. Seriously, they needed to get a different style locking handle, this was getting ridiculous. He makes his way to the bathroom to brush his teeth and then throw some water on his face to get himself fully awake. In the kitchen he grabs a banana and checks for messages on his phone as he plops next to Taehyun at the table who was also on his phone, looking over their schedule. Yeonjun sits across from them polishing off his breakfast.

"Just choreo practice today," Taehyun says softly before setting down his phone. "We can head in once you're both done eating."

"Sounds good," Hueningkai says with a smile.

Taehyun nods then stands. The early morning quiet is disrupted when he starts wailing on Beomgyu and Soobin's door. Soobin stumbles down the hall from Hueningkai and Taehyun’s room, rubbing his eyes and bumping into things before closing the bathroom door behind him. Finally, after about seven solid minutes of knocking and non-serious threatening, Beomgyu opens the door to his room. He leaves the door open and retreats back into his room to get dressed. Taehyun rejoins Yeonjun and Hueningkai as they start putting on their winter gear, preparing for the biting wind. They might only have to make their way from their apartment to one of two waiting cars, but it was simply too cold not to properly bundle up. Once scarves are wrapped, masks are on, and hoods are up, Yeonjun pulls the door open and the three are off.

When they arrive at the company building, they sanitize their hands, record their temperature along with the time by their name before they continue past the lobby. There's a little over an hour before their choreographer will be in, so Hueningkai stops by the recording office, wanting to get a tune down before it slips his mind with hours of the upcoming title track blasting through the practice room. The tune came to him in his dreams last night, a mellow, slow melody in a reedy timber. It was the third time in the past few weeks that this happened. He wasn't sure what the context of the dreams and music were. When he woke up, all he could remember was the tune itself. But Hueningkai was not one to over scrutinize an idea if it was a good one. Considering they were just starting their chaos series, he could see the potential for a mournful or reflective song fitting in very well, and was excited when he next had the chance to meet up with their producer and see if he saw the potential Hueningkai did in these melodies. But that was for another day.

Hueningkai shuts off his phone alarm and takes one last glance over the musical staffs before setting the page down and making his way to the practice room.

He's the last bandmate to arrive, but he's there before their choreographer which is the most important thing. He sets his phone into a cubby then joins Soobin on the floor stretching. Their choreographer arrives about ten minutes later and they begin practice.

The morning goes by quickly as they focus on learning the 2nd verse and bridge section. Hueningkai gets the formation changes and leg movements down quickly but keeps getting the hand gestures messed up. They each are doing something slightly different in this section, so he can’t just watch the others and copy. The choreographer's phone starts ringing. She apologizes, calling for a break before picking up the call and going out into the hall.

The boys take this chance to drink some water and then Yeonjun pats Hueningkai's shoulder. "Come on, let’s get your gestures down before the next run through."

Hueningkai gets back to his feet and stands beside Yeonjun, who plays through the demo video at three quarters speed, pointing out the angles and shapes he should be making. He then stands back and counts out the beats as Hueningkai runs through the motions.

Hueningkai’s vision starts getting a bit fuzzy. He blinks his eyes, trying to make it go away as he focuses on moving his arms. But then the fuzziness turns into black dots and he clutches his head when a sudden headache hits him.

“Hyuka, are you alright?” Yeonjun asks worriedly, tilting his head up to look at his face.

“Hyung, I-”

Hueningkai feels himself fall forward as everything goes black.

***

He feels like he’s slowly resurfacing from being underwater. Hearing comes back first. It’s an indistinct mumble, but he can recognize that it is his bandmates, worried and agitated. He’s laying still on the hard ground, but his head is cushioned on something, probably someone’s lap, and there are hands stroking through his hair and holding his left hand.

Hueningkai’s limbs feel stiff, and the headache still lingers a bit, but he forces his eyes open. He can only see out of his right eye, something is covering his left eye, but before he can really puzzle this out, he focuses on what he is seeing. Yeonjun’s face looks down at him, brows furrowed in concern, but he smiles as soon as their gazes connect. In contrast, Hueningkai gasps in shock.

Just a moment ago, Yeonjun was in a casual black zipped jacket and grey sweats, his black hair messy from being constantly pushed back. But the Yeonjun before him wears studded black leather with gold belts crossing his chest. His hair is bright pink all the way down to the roots, like he just got it dyed, and was styled like they were about to perform “Puma.” Hueningkai glances around, noticing that they are no longer in the practice room. They are in a hazy blue forest, with tall grey-barked trees. A squeeze on his hand leads his eyes to Beomgyu who sits at his side, smiling, his shoulders dropping in relief. His hair is still black, but he is now wearing a long white overcoat and turtleneck. Hueningkai finally recognizes the outfits as their VR fantasy getups but is still at a loss for why they are suddenly wearing them.

“Hyung,” Hueningkai’s voice is rough and gravely, but he presses forward, “what’s going on? Where are we?”

Yeonjun strokes his cheek comfortingly. “Kai, we’re still in Ashenvale forest. You blacked out after getting hit by a spell from that Twilight Priest that came out of nowhere. God, never do that again! I know I don’t have much magical resistance, but that doesn’t mean you need to throw yourself in front of me, okay?”

Hueningkai’s mind swirls, getting hung up on the strange proper nouns coming from Yeonjun’s mouth. “Ashenvale? Twilight Priest? What are you talking about?”

Yeonjun’s face pinches in worry. “Kai, what is the last thing you remember?”

"We were in the practice room, going through dance choreography. The instructor stepped out to take a phone call, and you were going through the details with me, so I'd get them right. And then everything just went black." Through his whole tirade, Yeonjun’s face progressively gets more and more worried, and it frightens Hueningkai. Fear settles into his heart and anxious questions come bubbling out: "Yeonjun, I don’t understand what's going on. You just dyed your hair black two days ago, why is it pink again? Why are we so far from the city? Why are you two dressed in your RPG clothes?"

"Shhh," Yeonjun hushes him and wipes away the few stray tears that Hueningkai let fall. Beomgyu squeezes his hand in comfort. "Kai, it's going to be alright. We are going to figure out what that spell did to you and fix it, ok? Things will get back to normal, everything is going to be alright, hyung will make it better."

Hueningkai takes deep slow breaths, trying to settle the rising anxiety he can physically feel in his chest. 

"I'll go find Taehyun," Beomgyu says, "maybe he can figure out if this is a curse instead of a spell."

"Yes, please get him," Yeonjun replies.

Beomgyu gives Hueningkai one last hand squeeze and reassuring smile before rising to his feet. He turns and then seems to fall forward, but as he's falling his whole body seems to change before Hueningkai's very eyes: hands turn to paws with long sharp claws, the long white coat becoming a coat of striped fur, a pair of rounded furry ears perking up from his head. The lion-tiger- _Beomgyu_ raises his snout slightly, whiskers twitching before he starts bounding through the trees, quickly out of sight.

Hueningkai starts laughing, a hysterical edge to the sound. This had to be a dream, right? He had to be unconscious, and this was all in his head. There was quite literally no other reasonable explanation for all of this. It was too elaborate to be a prank, so it had to be his imagination running wild. Hueningkai turns on his side, burying his face into Yeonjun’s stomach, fingers gripping the stiff leather tightly, his laughter turning into gasping breaths. That’s right, he was just dreaming, he had to be, but god, couldn’t he just wake up already? Please?

Yeonjun runs his fingers through Hueningkai’s hair, the other hand tightly gripping his shoulder. “Kai, I need you to breath with me, okay? Can you do that?” Hueningkai gives a slight nod. “Okay, we’re gonna take a deep breath in, and then out 123. Good! Again, in 123, out 123 …”

Hueningkai’s breathing returns to normal and he lies there bonelessly, emotionally and physically spent. Wherever this dream was headed, he was just going to roll with it, he resolves to himself.

Three pairs of footsteps approach slowly then stop. “Is Kai alright?” Soobin asks softly.

Yeonjun rubs Hueningkai’s arm gently. “I think there’s some side effects to whatever spell he was hit with. Mind altering side effects. Taehyun, mind taking a look?”

“Of course.”

Yeonjun helps Hueningkai to sit up, keeping his arm around his back even once he’s upright. Just like Beomgyu and Yeonjun, Taehyun and Soobin are dressed in their VR outfits: long black coat with black boots contrasting his blonde hair and a long teal and gold coat with bright blue hair. Hueningkai doesn’t even react to Soobin’s elongated ears, making him look like his monster version from the +u. Instead, his gaze focuses on Taehyun, who has pulled a large old book from a pouch on his belt that looked like it could barely fit an apple inside. _Nope, nope, just go with it._ He flips through the tome, finally stopping and running a finger across a few odd-looking symbols.

“Kai,” Taehyun says gently, like he’s talking to a timid animal, trying not to scare it off. “I’m going to touch your head, and it’s going to feel a little ticklish, but I promise it won’t hurt. Just don’t fight it, ok?”

Hueningkai hears himself say “Sure,” really more a knee jerk reaction than a voluntary response. Taehyun lays his hand on Hueningkai’s forehead then closes his eyes. Hueningkai feels something probing at the edges of his consciousness. When Taehyun had said it might feel ticklish, this was not what he was expecting.

“Relax,” Taehyun says softly. “I’m not trying to hurt you, I’m just trying to see what’s wrong.”

Hueningkai closes his eyes and pictures himself opening a door in his mind, inviting the intruding force in. And then images, so many memories, flash behind his eyelids: running and playing with his sisters, learning what ‘divorce’ meant entirely too young, nervously standing in front of yet another new classroom after moving countries again, singing his best at auditions and still getting turned away, grasping his knees as he regained his breath from practicing so hard, making the debut team, moving into their first tiny dorm, training and laughing and growing to love his bandmates, looking away from his crying hyungs during their debut showcase, performing in the US, feeling overwhelming frustration and disappointment when their comeback kept getting delayed, the rush of pure joy when they finally met their fans again, receiving that first rookie award, and then the next and the next, feeling shocked at how much support they had when it felt like they could do so much more, then the pandemic hitting and ruining their plans, performing for empty audience halls over and over again, hoping that during this next comeback he could see MOA again. A lifetime of memories passed in the blink of an eye.

There’s no longer a hand on his forehead. Hueningkai opens his eyes and meets Taehyun’s shocked expression. Taehyun grasps the edge of Hueningkai’s eye patch.

“Hey, what are you-” Yeonjun doesn’t even finish his sentence before Taehyun removes the black fabric. Soobin and Beomgyu gasp, taking a step back in shock. Yeonjun turns more to the side to look at Hueningkai and then freezes. He hastily grabs Hueningkai’s cheek and turns his face, thumb gently running under his left eye. He looks absolutely bewildered, brows furrowed and lips trying and failing to form any words at all.

Taehyun finally breaks the silence. “There’s nothing wrong with him: he’s still very much Huening Kai, but he’s not _our_ Huening Kai.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't seem to escape the drama fics. I swear, I started writing a calm, meandering Stardew Valley fic, but then got interrupted by a TXT one-shot. Returned to the fluff, wrote 10k of disconnected scenes, then ended up side tracked again. Literally the thought process for this fic was: Oh man, wouldn't it be cool to just make the VR version real? And then just plop one of TXT into it? Gosh, that's basically an isekai. Wait, ise _kai_...
> 
> I'm using WoW instead of DnD, which is what their classes are actually from, because I literally grew up playing it and am way more familiar with its world and lore. Knowledge of WoW is not needed to enjoy this story, just treat it like a high-fantasy setting and you'll be golden.
> 
> I have a vague idea of the overall plot, but I'm not bothering putting anything down on paper, given how I know the characters are pretty much just going to drag me along and do whatever they want to do. Updates will be slower than on 'Shadows Rise,' simply because uni will be picking up pretty soon.
> 
> Hope you enjoy the ride along with me! <3


	2. Chapter 2

Yeonjun’s hands fall into his lap and his head tilts down, looking unseeingly at the ground. A few moments pass, then his fists tighten, knuckles going white. “What the hell does that mean?” he asks in a strained voice, looking Taehyun dead in the eye. His pain and fear are obvious to everyone, but he tries desperately to cover it with anger. “Where is my brother?”

“Guys,” Soobin says softly, “we need to set up camp, it will be dark soon. We can continue this discussion then.”

Yeonjun shoots a glare at Hueningkai. He freezes, shocked at seeing such a caustic expression on the eldest’s face directed at him. “We can’t turn our back to him, he’s not one of us.”

His words cut Hueningkai deeply. He knows, _he knows_ this is not his hyung, but it’s his face and his voice and it just _hurts_.

Yeonjun’s expression twitches. He turns away from Hueningkai, growling as he rubs his eyes. “God, stop looking at me like that!”

“Taehyun, is he a threat?” Soobin asks.

“No,” the blonde shakes his head, “he has no combat experience whatsoever. He’s even more of a pacifist than our own Kai.”

Beomgyu snorts. “Wow, he’s practically helpless then.”

Soobin nods resolutely. “Alright, then let’s get started on camp.” He turns to Hueningkai. “You are to stay near me or one of the others at all times. These woods aren’t safe for someone who can’t even defend themselves, and I’m not risking any harm coming to our Kai because you want to run off and get yourself killed. Understood?”

“Y-yeah,” Hueningkai nods. His dream theory is getting harder and harder to hold to, but he can’t handle another almost panic attack. He’s not even sure if any of his members would give him a hug at this point. He struggles to get to his feet, his limbs still stiff. Taehyun lends a hand while Yeonjun puts a few feet of distance between them, his face now stony and closed off.

“Soobin and I found a clearing not far from here. It’s probably our best spot to set up for the evening,” Taehyun says, adjusting Hueningkai’s arm across his shoulders a bit to better support some of his weight.

Beomgyu makes a sweeping gesture. “Lead the way.”

The party of five make their way through the forest. The four naturally slip into a formation, with Soobin leading the way followed closely by Yeonjun, Taehyun and Hueningkai in the middle and Beomgyu taking up the rear.

The silence is thick, only broken by birds twittering and squirrels scampering up to the treetops as they pass. Then, something yowls in the distance, the sound making a shiver run down Hueningkai’s spine. Hands immediately rest on the handles of weapons, eyes scanning the trees.

Beomgyu opens his mouth and breaths in, his posture relaxing. “Just a successful furbolg hunting party.” This seems to reassure everyone but Hueningkai. Beomgyu turns to him. “Don’t worry, the tribes in this area are friendly.”

“We don’t have furbolgs where I come from.”

"Oh. Well, they're like two-legged bears. They're simple people, but they remember favors and grudges really well."

"O...kay??"

The group lapses back into silence as they begin to move again. Hueningkai finds he needs to lean on Taehyun less, walking seeming to finally work out some of the stiffness in his muscles. The trees start to thin out a bit, and then suddenly open up to a clearing. The grass is short, speckled with some small white and blue flowers and there is a patch of bare earth with a few stumps and a log.

"It looked like a common camping spot for adventurers," Taehyun says, "but we didn’t get to finish scouting the area before Beomgyu found us."

"I can do that real quick if you guys start on dinner," Beomgyu says.

Soobin nods. "Sure, sounds good."

Beomgyu shifts into a large striped cat once more and bounds through the trees.

Hueningkai lets out a shaky breath and shakes his head. He has a million questions and it must be obvious from his expression, because Taehyun softly explains as he helps him to sit on one of the stumps. "Beomgyu is a druid, he shape shifts and has nature magic." Taehyun sees no change in Hueningkai's expression and realizes something. "Your world doesn't even have magic does it?"

"No, none."

Taehyun exchanges a look with Soobin, who looks pensive. Soobin runs a hand through his hair. "This conversation is going to be longer than I thought. Okay," he claps his hands together. "Camp and dinner first, then we'll get to explaining."

"I'm getting firewood," Yeonjun announces. Before anyone can respond, he's making his way out of the clearing.

Soobin's eyes follow the pinkette until he's out of sight. He lets out a sigh, then focuses on pulling camping gear out of a tiny pouch attached to his hip. Hueningkai stares in amazement as a pot, bowls, utensils, and a sleeping mat emerge from something no bigger than a pomegranate.

"Extension charms," Taehyun says helpfully from his side, pulling out his own woven mat and thin blanket. "Our Kai has his own, in the brown one."

Hueningkai glances down, seeing two innocuous green and brown pouches attached to his belt. He loosens the cinch tie at the top of the brown one and opens it up wide. It is much bigger on the inside than it looks, about three foot on each side of a square. It is like looking at the top of an open box, with many things piled and stacked inside. There are a handful of books, some wrapped food, burlap bags, glass vials holding various colored liquids, the mentioned sleeping mat, and something that really catches Hueningkai's eye. There is a corner of the space dedicated to small handheld musical instruments. He reaches in and pulls out a little pan flute. He holds it up to his mouth and blows. The sound is sour until he adjusts his mouth a bit, then a clear reedy tone fills the clearing. He pulls back and stares at the flute. This was the same sound the melodies from his dreams were played with.

"Do you play?" Soobin asks, tearing what looked like lettuce into bite sized pieces. Taehyun beside him is skinning a few rabbits, so Hueningkai refocuses on Soobin's face.

"Yeah, but not the pan flute. I know the guitar and piano."

Soobin's eyebrows furrow. "Piano?"

A crunching sound makes everyone turn. Beomgyu and Yeonjun emerge from the tree line, both laden with wood. 

Logs and kindling are arranged and Taehyun starts the fire with a simple wave of his hand. Rabbits on spits and a pot with water and a pouch are placed, then everyone settles around the fire. Soobin, Beomgyu and Taehyun sit on the log to the left of Hueningkai’s stump and Yeonjun sits on the lone stump to the right.

Soobin clears his throat. “Taehyun, let’s start with you filling the rest of us in on what you saw.”

Taehyun fold his hands in his lap, eyes sweeping the group. “This Kai…comes from an alternate universe.”

This causes a stir. Soobin leans forward. “You mean like with Draenor?”

“Not quite. Draenor as we know it is an alternate _timeline_. Hellscream’s intervention changed history and it never became the Outlands: same place, different events. No, this Kai is from another universe entirely, one where we are all together but live completely different lives. There’s no magic where he comes from.”

“No magic?” Beomgyu leans back in shock, turning towards Hueningkai. “How does a world work without magic?”

Hueningkai shrugs. “We may not have magic, but technology is pretty advanced.”

“Machinery? Are we all goblins and gnomes over there?” Yeonjun asks.

“No, everyone is human.”

“What?” Beomgyu leans forward, eyes wide. “No orcs, trolls or tauren?” Hueningkai shakes his head. “No gnomes, dwarves, or draenei?” Another shake. “No elves??”

“No, the only humanoids on Earth are humans.”

Beomgyu bursts out into laughter, pointing a finger at Soobin. “You’re telling me his royal snootiness himself is a human? Oh, that’s hilarious!”

Soobin pouts. “That means you’re not a half elf either, you idiot!”

“Don’t care, you’re a human!” He turns towards Hueningkai, his eyes bright with mirth. “Please tell me he’s super short as a human, too? He’s a short elf, he has to be absolutely tiny in your world.”

“Hey!”

“He’s the same height in both worlds, Beomgyu,” Taehyun says. He redirects the conversation. “Kai, we all are bards in your world, correct?”

Hueningkai furrows his brow. “I’m not sure if it is equivalent, but we are idols: we produce music and put on performances for our fans. We’re constantly in the public eye, for better or for worse.” He fiddles with his hands a bit. “Did…did you see everything that I saw?” he asks softly.

Taehyun’s eyes widen. “I’m sorry, I didn’t fully explain myself before using that spell. I thought you were cursed and your memories were scrambled, not that you had no knowledge of magic and didn’t know what you were saying yes to. I was mostly looking for signs of corruption or a tether leading elsewhere. When I found none, I skipped through your memories and was startled to find they weren’t altered at all, and it was a world wholly unfamiliar. All I saw were still images, no emotions or anything like that. Again, my sincerest apologies.”

Hueningkai nods, settled by the fact that the sanctity of his mind was still his own.

Yeonjun turns the rabbits, then sits back and clears his throat. “So, our Kai basically was swapped for another universe’s Kai. How do we get ours back?” It’s quiet for a few moments. Yeonjun groans then looks between his friends. “Beomgyu, Taehyun, you’re our magic users. Have you heard about anything like this? Or recognize the gestures the Priest used?”

Beomgyu shrugs helplessly. “It’s not nature magic, that’s for sure.”

Taehyun rubs his throat in thought. “It’s definitely some form of void magic, no other school has the ability to transport across space, but universes?” Taehyun shakes his head. “I’ve never heard of any spell like it, and the gestures mean practically nothing without the accompanying incantation or runes in a grimoire.”

Yeonjun curses, stands up then starts pacing.

“Alright, let’s start with tracking down that Twilight Priest,” Soobin starts reasonably. “She was cornered and cast that spell to distract us long enough to escape, probably through a portal or hearthstone. What are the closest Twilight’s Hammer camps?”

Beomgyu blows air out and looks to the sky. “Darkshore had a large encampment but that was cleared out a couple months back. Mount Hyjal probably has a few still scattered around, probably where the cultists from Darkshore retreated to.”

Soobin nods. “Then we start making our way there.” He turns. “Alright, Yeonjun?”

He sighs deeply and rubs at his face. “Yeah, yeah, it’s something to go off of, at least.” He opens his eyes and stares at Hueningkai. He points a finger at him, trying to make a firm face but his lip quivers slightly. “You, you have to stay safe. You can’t get hurt. I can’t- I can’t risk not getting Kai back.”

Beomgyu gets to his feet and clasps Yeonjun’s shoulder. “Hey, you’re not the only one who wants Kai back, we all do.” Yeonjun opens his mouth but Beomgyu cuts off his reply, “I know, I know how important he is to you, but he’s important to us too, Yeonjun. And we’ll do everything we can to get him back, alright?”

Yeonjun is glaring hard at the ground, trying to stave off his tears. “Yeah,” he says weakly, then clears his throat and says a bit firmer, “yeah.”

Beomgyu turns to Hueningkai, looking imploringly. “And you’ll stay safe for your big brother, right?”

“Of course,” Hueningkai says. He’s still very lost in all of this, but he knows one thing: he can trust his members implicitly. It doesn’t matter what circumstance or what universe, one fundamental truth in his world is that his hyungs always have his back when push comes to shove.

Beomgyu nods. “Good.” He turns towards the fire. “The food should be ready now, let’s eat.”

Food is quickly divided up and the herbal tea is poured from the pot into five cups. Hueningkai picks a tiny piece of meat up with his fork. He’s never had rabbit before. It is a little dry, like an overdone turkey, and tastes light but earthy, like chicken with the gaminess of a duck. It was interesting, but he still much preferred seafood.

Soobin laughs softly at his expression. “Let me guess, you’d rather be eating fish right now.” Hueningkai nods emphatically, making Soobin smile. “Wow, you really are like Kai.” He furrows his brow. “Well, that’s not to say you aren’t Kai but just,” he let out a groan. “You both having the same name is confusing.”

“I’m used to going by ‘Hueningkai’ in my world, you could just call me that,” he supplies helpfully.

“Huening Kai?” Taehyun asks perplexedly. “Do we all go by our full names in your world?”

“Oh, no, just me.”

“Why’s that?” Soobin asks before taking a sip of tea.

Hueningkai pushes the last few bits of meat around his bowl with his fork. “Well, there’s another idol, uh, another bard in my world that goes by Kai, so to make it less confusing I go by my full name and ‘Kai’ refers to the other artist.”

Taehyun quirks a brow. “Shouldn’t you both go by your full names?”

Hueningkai laughs nervously. “Ah, well, ‘Kai’ is just the name he uses when he’s performing, it’s not his actual name so that would just confuse a lot more people.”

Beomgyu snorts. “That’s silly. You don’t get to use your own name but someone else can?”

Hueningkai shrugs. “It doesn’t really bother me anymore.”

Soobin frowns a bit. “Well, we’ll try to use ‘Hueningkai,’ but you’re still ‘Kai,’ so we’ll just be sure to specify ‘this world’s Kai’ until you switch back. Sounds good?” he looks around at the others, who all nod or voice their agreement.

It’s quiet for a few moments, then Hueningkai looks around the fire at the faces of his friends, so familiar and yet so different to the ones he knows. “Can…can I ask you a little bit about this world? I know there’s magic, but how much more different is it from my own?”

Soobin’s eyes widen. “Of course! We’ve just been so wrapped up in own concerns, but it must be just as strange and frightening for you, if not more. Never be afraid to ask us anything!”

Hueningkai nods. “So… am I still on Earth?”

“‘Earth?’ You mentioned that earlier, is that the name of your planet?” Taehyun asks. After a nod from Hueningkai, he continues. “No, our world is called Azeroth, and we’re currently on the continent of Kalimdor.” He sets his empty bowl aside and pulls some rolled parchment from his pouch, spreading it on the grass and motioning Hueningkai over. Hueningkai sits next to him as he makes a twisting hand gesture, then a small blue ball of light appears and just hovers in the air. Taehyun points to the map and Hueningkai refocuses.

There are four large continents, one in each cardinal direction, along with smaller islands scattered across the map. Taehyun points to the western landmass, his finger resting on a region labeled “Ashenvale.” He taps the map twice, then the parchment suddenly goes completely blank. Hueningkai watches in wonder as lines seem to draw themselves, and he’s suddenly looking at a zoomed in version of the region, with roads, lakes, and structures marked. Taehyun points to a relatively blank spot that is north of a road and between a few small lakes and a large tree symbol. “We are right here, and tomorrow we’ll make our way to the town of Astranaar.” He traces the road towards the west, where there is a little house symbol on an island surrounded by a lake.

Soobin leans forward, resting his arms on his knees. “We were out hunting game today, trying to restore the town’s dwindling supply when a group of Twilight’s Hammer occultists surprised us. We took down most of them, but one of them managed to… well, you know the rest. There’s no sense in letting food go to waste when there are those in need, so we’ll drop it off in the morning then start making our way to Hyjal.”

Hueningkai nods, following along. He looks at the softly glowing light, still hovering in the air. “So, can you all do magic in this world?”

Instead of answering, Taehyun plucks the ball of light out of the air and with a smirk tosses it to him. Hueningkai is startled but catches it. It is as light as air and a little cool to the touch, like holding an unyielding glowing bubble.

Taehyun makes a few swirling motions with his hand and whispers words that Hueningkai doesn’t quite catch, and then the ball of light morphs into a miniature dragon. It is finely detailed, from the individual scales and gossamer wings to its tiny horns and claws and it still glows with the same blue light. The little creature crawls about his hands and weaves between his fingers.

Yeonjun snorts and mutters fondly, “Showoff.”

The dragon suddenly spreads its wings and takes flight, shooting up into the clear night air where it bursts like a firework, tiny sparkles shimmering like stars then dissolving into nothing. Taehyun smiles, satisfied with his spellwork.

“To answer your question,” Soobin says, “no, not everyone has an affinity for magic, but those that do tend to revel in it.”

Taehyun ducks his head, but the smile is still present on his face.

Soobin continues. “Yeonjun and myself have absolutely no affinity for it, so we stick to swords and bows, respectively. Taehyun is an arcane mage, but he’s started dabbling in elemental magics lately while Beomgyu is a druid, which means he works primarily with nature magic.”

“Is that why you turned into a cat earlier?” Hueningkai asks.

Beomgyu laughs haughtily. “Why, my feline form is just the tip of the iceberg!”

Beomgyu’s form suddenly shifts, growing larger and furrier until what looks like a polar bear is sitting in his place. His sudden change in size consequently shoved Soobin off the log, who shouts a sharp “Hey!” in rebuke.

Beomgyu chuffs, amused as Soobin gets to his feet, dusts off his pants and moves to sit on one of the tree stumps. Beomgyu swings his massive head to look at Hueningkai. He lifts a paw to chest height and wriggles his deadly sharp claws up and down. A surprised chuckle escapes Hueningkai’s lips at the juxtaposition of this deadly predator just sitting there waving at him. Beomgyu’s little ears perk up, then he leans forward and lands with a thump onto his four feet. He approaches Hueningkai quickly, who scoots back out of pure instinct. Beomgyu immediately backs up as well, ears drooping.

“He’s letting you get a closer look.” Taehyun says, wrapping an arm around Hueningkai’s shoulders. “So you aren’t afraid in the future.” Taehyun shoots a halfhearted glare at the bear. “But he’s not doing a great job with it at the moment.”

Beomgyu dips his head and lift his apologetic eyes up to look at Hueningkai.

“I’m not scared,” he lies, “you just move so fast, I was surprised is all.”

Beomgyu carefully approaches this time and then stops an arm’s length away. He shakes his head slightly. Hueningkai reaches a hand tentatively forward and is met with the softest texture he’s ever felt in his life. Now that he’s closer, he notices there are a few differences between an actual polar bear and Beomgyu’s bear form. His ears are slightly pointed and there are grey circular and crescent moon shaped patterns on his shoulders. His top canine teeth protrude past his lips, even when his mouth is closed, and a leather necklace adorned with feathers and gemstones hangs around his neck.

Beomgyu takes a few steps back, then his form changes again, shrinking slightly but turning no less furry. The large feline takes a few steps forward, shoving its head under Hueningkai’s hand. Again, Beomgyu’s form is similar to a white tiger from Hueningkai’s world, but the same slight differences remain: pointed ears, elongated top canines, shoulder markings and feathered necklace. And his eyes. Beomgyu’s eyes remained the same kind brown Hueningkai had always known them to be and they looked at him fondly as he ran his fingers through white fur. When he got his fill, Hueningkai set his hand down on to his lap.

Beomgyu takes a step back then shifts back to his human form. He smiles apologetically at Hueningkai. “Sorry for startling you. My different forms all feel like different sides of the same coin to me, but for someone who’s never encountered a druid, it’s probably a bit scary, huh?”

“Yeah, a bit,” Hueningkai admits softly. “But thank you for showing me, I won’t be afraid next time.”

Beomgyu smiles then plops down next to Hueningkai and gives him a side hug. “Good! I have a few more, but they are much less intimidating than my feral and ursine forms.”

“Well, it will probably be a while before you see either of them again,” Taehyun says thoughtfully, rubbing his throat.

“Why do you say that?” Soobin asks.

“We’re down a healer, so Beomgyu will have to fill in for the time being.”

“Shoot, you’re right.” Yeonjun runs a hand though his hair.

“Was that the other Kai’s role?” Hueningkai asks.

“Yes. Kai also uses magic which…” Soobin furrows his brow. “Well, Kai’s magic is…unique, shall we say.”

Taehyun snorts. “That’s putting it lightly.” He looks at Hueningkai. “He plays tunes on his instruments, and it boosts our abilities and repairs our wounds. It’s light magic, so he tells others he is a priest, but he channels through music instead of prayers, which makes him a bard. As in the class bard, not just a traveling musician. It’s a very rare ability. I’ve only met two in my life, and that’s including Kai.”

Yeonjun glares at the ground. “And what’s rare is commoditized.” He looks up at Hueningkai. “So when we are in towns, you are a priest for all intents and purposes, understood?”

“Understood.”

Yeonjun nods. “Good.” He turns back to the fire and adds a few more logs.

Hueningkai stares down at the brown pouch at his hip, thinking about the instruments tucked in the corner. He turns to Taehyun. “Do you…do you think I can do magic?”

Taehyun hums. “I’m not sure. You can certainly try, but neither Beomgyu or myself can teach you how. And that’s just assuming Kai’s ability transfers over to you, which might not be the case.”

“We’ll just have Beomgyu as the dedicated healer for now, alright?” Soobin says.

Hueningkai nods, but internally, he’s really hoping he can figure out this bard thing. He’s come around to the idea that this is all real, and not just a dream; as wild as his imagination can get, he’s not nearly creative enough for all the little details that surround him. He doesn’t know how long it’s going to take to track down this enemy priest and figure out a way back to Earth, but he could already feel himself bristling at the idea of being a useless tagalong while his members carried him through whatever trials lay ahead. If there was any way he could help lighten the load, then he would do it. Hueningkai thought about his other self, waking up on the practice room floor, realizing he was no longer able to protect his hyungs in a world that seemed much more dangerous than the one Hueningkai had grown up in. Hueningkai felt he owed it to this other Huening Kai to at least try and fill in for him, protect his family when he is unable to. He just hopes his good intentions don’t get anyone hurt before their journey is through.

“It’s getting late,” Soobin says, looking up at the crescent moon. “We should get some sleep. I’ll take first watch.”

Woven mats are spread out atop the soft grass and thin summer blankets are wrapped around each of the four while Soobin sits on his stump, bow still slung across his back.

Hueningkai stares up at the stars, bright and plentiful without any city light pollution. He looks for constellations, a tiny part of him seeking out something familiar in this foreign land, but the sky is completely alien to him. He feels small in that moment, distinctly alone and very far from home. He closes his eyes, ignoring the tiny bit of wetness at the corners, and focuses on the soft breaths and snores of his members, familiar and comforting, and tries to fall asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am the type of author that posts chapters when they are done. If they sit on my computer for long, I am prone to editing them to death, so I find it much better for my productivity if I just post it after a full read-through. Apologies for any grammar errors, I do not have a beta.
> 
> For you WoWheads out there, this is set during Legion. Since the main focus was elsewhere, I get to take some creative liberties with the old continents, woo!
> 
> If I ever fail to explain something game-wise in the chapter, tell me in the comments! Either it's a genuine story reason and I get to be super vague in responding or it literally didn't occur to me and I'll tack on to the notes section. When I say I've grown up with WoW, I mean it in the literal sense: in elementary school I borrowed my older sibling's account and have been playing off and on since. So some of this stuff is ingrained in my head and I forget it's not common knowledge. Only things covered this chapter were regions and classes, so I think I'm in the clear, but this applies for the rest of the fic.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, I'd love to hear your thoughts! Have a wonderful day! <3


	3. Chapter 3

Hueningkai tries to fall asleep, but he just can’t. He’s used to noise, living in the city, where the constant hum of humanity was always present, so he expects sleeping out under the stars would have been a treat, the silence of the night calming. But the woods are anything but silent: owls hooting, far off howls, branches shaking, underbrush rustling…everything is strange and Hueningkai finds himself just staring at the stars. He turns, spotting Soobin who places wood onto the fire before taking a seat once more on the log. Hueningkai makes a quick decision and quietly makes his way over to sit beside him, looking at the crackling fire as it licks at the fresh wood.

"Can't sleep?"

"Yeah. Lots of night noises I’m not used to."

Soobin hums. "When you're on the road as much as we are, you tend to get sleep when you can." He glances over the other members fondly. "So we're usually out pretty hard no matter what's going on around us."

"Wouldn't that be a bit, I dunno, dangerous? Not waking up to noises?"

Soobin nods. "Oh, certainly, but that's the whole reason we have someone on watch. If I so much as talk in a raised voice, every one of them will be on their feet, weapons drawn in two seconds flat. It’s the trust we have in each other that allows us to rest peacefully, knowing that one of the others is looking out for us when we are vulnerable." He looks to the side at Hueningkai. "Are we...are you also close to the party members in your world?"

"Yes," Hueningkai smiles softly. "It's not a matter of survival for us, but we are all very close and bring each other up when we're down, work out issues quickly, laugh and play around... they're all the brothers I never knew I needed but now that I have them, can't picture living without." The corners of his mouth turn down slightly, and he can feel tears prickle in his eyes.

"Kai..." Soobin pauses as he reaches a hand out, then determinedly wraps Hueningkai around the shoulders and brings him close. "Hueningkai, I've been trying not to overstep my bounds as a practical stranger, but you're not really a stranger to us. Please, believe me when I say you can lean on us too. I think I speak for the others when I say it's... difficult, painful even, to see you, see Kai, and not have your laughter ringing out in the air, not have you try and mess with us then act innocent the next second, not see you smile...I imagine it's hard for you too?" Instead of answering, Hueningkai turns and properly hugs Soobin, face burying in his neck. Soobin's arms wrap tightly around him. "It's okay, I've got you, gum."

A quiet sob escapes Hueningkai's lips, then another, and another, his tears dampening Soobin's shoulder. He's not prone to crying, but it feels so cathartic, just letting these bottled emotions flow out of him: the anxiety, the fear, the confusion ...When he leans back from the hug, he feels ten pounds lighter.

"For the record, you're the gum, not me."

This gets a bark of laughter from Soobin, who sniffles out a few more giggles while dabbing at his own eyes. "I'll let that slide for now..." he says softly. He looks at Hueningkai fondly and pets his hair. "Do you think you can get at least some sleep? You'll really be wishing for it tomorrow if you don't."

Hueningkai bites his lip.

"What is it?"

He looks down, blushing a bit. "It feels odd, having no plushie to cuddle..."

Soobin snorts. "You haven't opened your green pouch yet, huh?"

Hueningkai sits back and opens up the second pouch at his hip. It's too dark to see inside, so he reaches a hand in and pulls out the first fuzzy thing his hand touches. He doesn't recognize what animal it is supposed to be, but it's cuteness and fluffy texture cannot be denied. He hugs it close, breathing in the scent of lavender which only further settles his mind and makes his eyes droop.

Soobin ruffles his hair then pushes him forward slightly. "Get some sleep, I'll see you in the morning."

"Night, hyung."

"Goodnight, Kai."

When Hueningkai lays down, his nose buried in the plushie, the long stress-filled day catches up to him and sleep immediately overcomes him.

***

Hueningkai wakes to a sky of pinks and blues. A part of him thinks he's still dreaming, it's so beautiful. It reminds him of the skies captured at 5:53, pictures snapped and shared. He and his members hadn't seen their fans in almost a year, and it was disheartening to have yet another comeback for an empty audience hall... but he found comfort online, seeing their posts, sharing their skies... they didn’t feel as far away then, and he tries to hold onto that feeling of 'distant but still together' as he looks around. He's the last up, the others sitting around a snuffed fire pit, talking quietly. Hueningkai rolls up his mat and puts it back in his pouch but keeps the plushie tucked under his arm as he approaches the group.

“…ized route, yeah?” Hueningkai catches the tail end of Taehyun’s sentence as he nears.

“Yeah, I think it’s a good plan, and if it doesn’t work out, we’ll take the normal route,” Soobin says before turning and smiling warmly at Hueningkai while he takes a seat beside him on the log. "Morning. Did you sleep well?"

He smiles back. "Eventually, yeah. Did I miss anything?”

“Naw, not really” Beomgyu says leaning back with his hands behind his head. “Just finalizing the route.”

“But before we get started towards Hyjal, we’re going to Astranaar this morning. And before that, you need to eat,” Soobin says, handing him a bowl of what looked like oatmeal with dark blue berries and nuts.

Hueningkai takes a bite and almost moans at the taste. "What are these berries? They taste amazing!"

"Moonberries," Beomgyu says, "they’re pretty common across northern Kalimdor. Sweetest things on the planet, but only if harvested before dawn."

"What about if they're harvested after?"

Beomgyu shrugs. "Poisonous." The spoon headed towards Hueningkai’s mouth freezes. Taehyun leans over and smacks Beomgyu. "What? It's true!"

Taehyun sighs heavily. "What he means is that moonberries harvested under sunlight are emetic.”

“Tae,” Soobin says gently, “you’re probably the only one who knows what that means. In Common, please?”

Taehyun’s ears turn a shade darker. “It makes you vomit.” He turns to Hueningkai. “You can tell the difference based on color: blue for night and gold for day harvested. The blue are a tasty treat while the gold make a good remedy for poison when applied to wounds.”

Hueningkai nods. “Good to know.” He clears his throat. “So, when are we headed out?”

“As soon as you’re done,” Soobin says.

Hueningkai quickly eats up the rest of his food then looks down at the empty bowl. He sits up straight with a start. “I didn’t even clean my bowl last night, sorry about that. How do I do that for the future?”

“Give it here for a second.” Taehyun reaches an empty hand out and Hueningkai puts his bowl into it. Taehyun conjures up a small bit of water that swirls around the bowl and spoon then dumps itself onto the ground. He sets the bowl into the stack with the other four.

“Thank you.” Hueningkai says, eyes sparkling in wonder, “Taehyun, what else can you do?”

Soobin pats him on the shoulder. “Let’s get to walking before you go down that rabbit hole, alright?”

“Oh, sure.”

The last few bits of camping gear are packed up. Hueningkai strokes the furry mane on his plush one last time before putting it back in the green pouch. With the daylight, he can finally see what the green pouch contains: a quarter of the space seems to be taken up by cloaks, thick winter blankets, and a few changes of clothes, another quarter with jars of herbs and flowers, and the remaining half by plushies of various shapes and sizes. Some of them look familiar, like an elephant, some big cats, a rabbit and a bear, but some, like the blue gazelle-like creature he slept with last night, were fantastically foreign.

An arm slips around his own and he glances over to see Taehyun. The gesture so familiar and comforting, he can’t help but smile as the party makes their way from the clearing. Beomgyu and Yeonjun lead the way while Soobin brings up the rear.

Some time passes before Taehyun turns and asks, "So, what would you like to know about arcane mages?"

"What can you do as an arcane mage? Well, actually, take it a step back, what does ‘arcane’ even mean?”

Taehyun hums. "That's been a topic of debate for centuries. But the definition I find most useful is that arcane is a volatile form of mana, or magical energy. Think of it like steam is to water. Continuing with this analogy, other forms of magic, like nature and light, are like wine or juice: a dilution of pure water, but more consistent and easier to handle than steam. Arcane magic is just raw power. It is capricious and takes a practiced hand to be able to direct it towards one's enemies and not back at themselves. It is very useful in combat but is practically useless outside of it. Diluting the power of pure mana by defining it makes it much easier to handle and is the reason I also wield elemental magics for times where delicate control is needed." Taehyun looks at the blinking Hueningkai. He chuckles a bit self-consciously. "I tried to make it simple, but magic is pretty complex."

"No, I think your explanation was great, it's just a lot to take in. So, the water this morning and the light-dragon last night, those were elemental magic?"

Taehyun nods. "Correct."

"So, you can control water and ... blue fire?"

"Frostfire is the technical term, but yes, water and fire are what I can control."

"And arcane magic would look like...?"

"Large, poorly defined purple lightning bolts usually."

Hueningkai hums to himself, trying to picture it, when he notices the trees thinning out ahead. A few minutes later, the party steps onto a cobble road. Smooth off-white stones stretch out in front of them before bending and disappearing behind some trees. Now that the path is easier to tread, they start to cover ground a lot quicker. Hueningkai finds himself admiring the forest around him, the trees tall and grey-barked with blue-green leaves. Occasionally he can see some wildlife in between the trunks, like some deer and squirrels, but none come close to the road.

Hueningkai eventually turns to Taehyun with another question. "If you're an arcane mage, but can do elemental magic, too, could you also learn other kinds, like the nature magic Beomgyu does?"

Taehyun huffs a laugh. "Oh, no, I can't learn nature magic."

"Why not?"

Taehyun idly scratches his throat in thought. "How to explain...Well, different branches of magic have different driving principles, different conditions to make spells work. For mages, it's tomes filled with algorithms and formula, how to tweak mana into the form you need it in and then control it. Other branches require more ... enigmatic means. Light magic, for example, is heavily based on emotions." Taehyun's lip curls a bit. "I've talked at length with many priests and paladins, the main practitioners of light magic, and their explanations are always about how a spell feels, what they picture in their mind, physically manifesting their devotion to their moral code.... honestly it makes very little sense to me." He pinches the bridge of his nose. "And don’t even get me started on nature magic."

"Awww," Beomgyu coos as he falls back to the pair, ruffling Taehyun's hair. "Poor kid's head is full of math, he can't just feel the flow around him and give it a little nudge in a helpful direction."

Taehyun turns to Hueningkai with a long-suffering stare. "See what I mean? Utter nonsense."

Beomgyu laughs brightly. "Healing wounds, growing plants... it's all about growth, a natural process that already wants to happen. Druids just accelerate it."

Hueningkai furrows his brow. "What about turning into a tiger or a bear? That doesn't sound natural at all."

"My other forms are all different reflections of the same whole, I'm just emphasizing different aspects of myself." Beomgyu strokes his chin. "Maybe instead of ‘growth,’ a better term is ‘change.’ Nature never stands still, it’s always moving, morphing into another form. Druids are just an embodiment of that force."

There are more questions on the tip of Hueningkai's tongue, but as the party rounds a bend, the sight in front of him catches his breath. The forest opens up to a gorgeous blue lake, glimmering in the morning light with dragonflies zooming along its surface and cattails and tall grass around the edges gently swaying in the breeze. Beyond the circular lake across a wooden bridge is a collection of buildings.

He supposes this is a fantasy land, so his expectation of a 'town' should have been more along the lines of what he sees before him. There are at most five buildings in total, all constructed from the same purple, red-brown, and ashy white wood as the bridge they now near. And the people! There are two female guards standing at the end of the bridge next to a wooden arch, dressed in grey leather with circular bladed weapons hanging at their sides. They must be elves going by their ears, but they look nothing like Soobin. Their skin is dusty purple and icy blue, their eyes seem to give off a faint silvery glow, and they are taller than Soobin by a few inches.

Halfway across the bridge, the icy blue elf says, "Halt! What businesses do you have in Astranaar?"

Hueningkai expects Soobin to move forward, but instead it is Yeonjun who does while Soobin and Beomgyu remain behind Taehyun and himself.

"We were contracted to resupply the Inn's meat stock and have come to deliver the goods."

Both guards’ eyes sweep over the group one by one, then the blue one nods. "Proceed."

The party walks past them and into the town proper. On their right is a small house where a child elf, no taller than Hueningkai's waist, tosses a ball to herself. She takes one glance at them before scurrying close, smiling brightly as she practically collides with Yeonjun's side.

"Junnie! You and your friends are back already?"

"What can I say? We're awesome hunters." He picks up the girl, feigning a struggle as he gets her up to his hip. "Wahh, Relara, you're growing so fast. You're already bigger than the last time I picked you up!"

The little girl giggles brightly, her nose scrunching. "That was only three days ago! No way I grew any since then."

"Nope, I think you did."

She snorts before turning to the rest of the group. When her eyes land on Hueningkai, her smile gets even wider. "Ningning! Did your eye finally get better?"

Hueningkai is startled but puts on a convincing smile. "Yeah, yeah it's all better now."

"That's amazing!"

Yeonjun unties a pouch from his belt onehanded, still looking at the little girl. "Relara, let's go find your dad, huh? I'm sure a surprise visit will brighten his day." Yeonjun turns to Soobin, handing off the bag. "Could you pick me up a whetstone? That's all I really need."

"Of course, no problem."

Yeonjun smiles, then converses playfully with Relara as they part from the group.

Soobin puffs an amused bit of air out before regarding the rest. "This is where we separate, I suppose. Meet back here in a half-hour?"

"Sure. Taehyun, let's go get our reagents!" Beomgyu loops his arm around Taehyun's shoulders and starts marching him off to the tall two-story building at the other end of the town.

Taehyun turns to Beomgyu with a small smirk. "I’m not getting your items for you this time."

Beomgyu uses his arm to sways the two of them as he whines. "But Taehyun, you're so much better at bartering than me!"

They're a little too far away to clearly make out Taehyun's reply, but Hueningkai is distracted by an arm around his own shoulders.

Soobin smiles at him as he rubs his shoulder. "C'mon, let's go turn in a quest then stop by the blacksmith."

Soobin leads Hueningkai into the large building to the right. With exception of the cottage that Relara was in front of and another similar looking home down the way, all the buildings lack doors, instead having large open archways. As they enter the Inn, a woman elf behind the counter smiles as they approach.

"Ah, back already? What'd you manage to bag?"

Soobin lets go of Hueningkai and opens up the pouch Yeonjun gave him, sliding it over the counter for the Innkeeper to see. She whistles, "My, that's a lot of venison. Sure you don't want to keep a head or two?"

"No, we already separated out a few this morning for own supply but thank you."

The woman shakes her head. "No, thank you! This is so much more than I asked for. It'll go a long way in keeping the guards fed. Give me just a moment to put these away and I'll give you your bag back." She turns and heads through a door which shuts softly behind her.

Hueningkai turns to Soobin, a few burning questions on his mind. He starts with the simpler one. “Who was that little girl?”

Soobin has a fond smile on his face, looking into the middle distance. “Ah, that was Relara. She’s a feisty little tyke, always getting into trouble. Couple years back, she got lost in the woods. We were passing through town at the time and decided to lend a hand in the search. I’m glad we did, cause when we found her a wolf was chasing her down. We sent it packing and brought her back home to her father. We refused any reward, it was just the right thing to do, after all, so ever since, when we stop in to town, he insists on sending us off with a meal.”

“That’s really sweet,” Hueningkai says, but his smile flattens out as he figures out how to phrase the real question he wants to ask. "Soobin, did Kai have an eye patch on cause of a recent eye injury?"

Soobin jerks his head to Hueningkai in surprise. After a forced casual glance around the empty Inn, Soobin returns his gaze to Hueningkai.

In a soft voice he says, "Kai is blind in his left eye." Hueningkai's eyes widen in surprise, that was definitely not what he was expecting. "It's an old injury, he got it long before I even met him. None of us are shocked or repulsed by it, scars and injuries are like badges of honor for adventurers and warriors, but Kai was always a little self-conscious about his white eye and kept it covered to not freak out townsfolk." There's a beat of silence. Soobin bites his lip, like he's debating whether to add on more. "Just... whatever you do, don't bring it up around Yeonjun. I think it he blames himself for it because he gets really distant any time it's brought up."

Hueningkai looks at the ground. "More distant than he is now?"

Soobin frowns, pain and sadness in his eyes. Before he can say anything else, the door swings open and the Innkeeper returns, with both the brown bag and a burlap pouch that jingles quietly. It clangs as she sets it down on the counter and slides it towards Soobin, who had a smile firmly in place as soon as she entered the room.

"Payment, plus a little extra," she says with a wink.

Soobin unties the top of the burlap pouch and gasps. He runs his fingers quickly over the coinage inside before shaking his head. "This is double what we agreed upon, I can't accept this."

"And you brought three times what I needed, so you will be accepting it."

Soobin opens his mouth to respond but closes his lips when the Innkeeper crosses her arms and raises a long magenta eyebrow. He sighs, retying the pouch and placing it along with the empty hunting bag into one of the black bags at his hip. The Innkeeper smiles. "Much better. You lot still headed to Stonetalon after this?"

Soobin shakes his head. "No, change of plans: we're headed to Hyjal."

She tsks. "Darn, I'll have to actually pay for air mail this time then."

Soobin smirks. "What makes you think we would've agreed to be your couriers?"

The Innkeeper laughs at that. "You boys are too nice and will do anything if it means helping someone out."

Soobin pouts slightly. "I don't know about _anything_..."

She snorts then shoos them with her hands. "Stop gabbing and get going, I want you to get to the Sanctuary before night falls, Felwood is no place to be out after dark!"

Soobin rolls his eyes as he turns Hueningkai around with him. "Alright, alright, we're leaving."

The two leave the Inn and start heading sedately over to the largest building in town directly across the town center. It is a very wide, one story building once again with an open arch instead of a door.

Hueningkai turns to Soobin. "What did she mean, about Felwood not being safe at night? Is that where we're headed next?"

Soobin hums. "Yeah, we need to pass through Felwood. It's a sick forest, still tainted by powerful magic used there ages ago. It's a bit more dangerous than Ashenvale, but nothing we can't handle, I promise."

They pass through the open archway of the building and head to the left. At the end of the long hall, there are a few tables laid out with various weapons. Behind them is a small forge, with bellows breathing and a fire roaring. A male elf hammers at a glowing hot blade, sparks flying with every impact before he plunges it into a liquid, the orange hot metal hissing as it is quenched rapidly. He sets the now cool blade aside and turns to regard the two who come to a stop by the tables.

He gives a nod in greeting. He eyes the bow strapped to Soobin's back. "Arrows?"

"And a whetstone, please."

The blacksmith waves his hand over the display of bundled arrows on the table in invitation before turning away to grab a smooth grey stone from a far table. When he returns, Soobin has picked out a ludicrous number of arrows and lays a few gold coins on the table.

The elf returns a few silver pieces to Soobin. "Peace be with you."

Soobin nods. "And you."

The blacksmith then turns back to his work as Soobin unslings the quiver on his back and starts feeding the arrows into it. It obviously also has extension charms on it, because there is no other way they all fit.

"How many did you just buy?"

Soobin shrugs. "1500."

"What??"

"Yeah, I was starting to run low, only had less than 500 arrows left." He picks up the whetstone and turns to Hueningkai. "Let's get back to the town center, it won’t be long before the others are finished too."

Soobin is right. Not five minutes later, Beomgyu and Taehyun return and Yeonjun approaches soon after holding Relara’s hand. A purple-skinned male elf is on her other side, smiling fondly, holding a cloth covered basket in hand. "She wanted to see you all off," he says.

"Aww, that's so sweet of you!" Relara detaches herself from Yeonjun and Beomgyu crouches down to meet her with open arms. She hugs Taehyun next, then Soobin, then finally Hueningkai. As she gives him a tight squeeze around his neck, Hueningkai looks up at the warm smiles of his groupmates, sans one. Yeonjun’s face looks conflicted, his eyes holding a terrible sadness. He looks away from Hueningkai, quickly hiding his emotions behind a mask, smiling at the male elf who is presumably Relara’s father when he hands him the basket.

When Relara pulls back, she pats Hueningkai’s left cheek softly. "You look even prettier without the eyepatch, Ningning!"

He ducks his head minutely, embarrassed. "Thank you, Relara, but you're much prettier than I am."

She giggles, delighted. "Thanks!" Then she runs up to her father, who scoops her up and sets her on his hip.

"Safe journeys, to all of you."

Yeonjun claps him on the shoulder. "Thank you, Pelturas. And you, Relara," he pokes her nose, "keep out of trouble for your old man, alright?"

"I promise!"

“Alright, take care!”

The two send the party off with waves and smiles until they are past that first bend in the road.

Once they are out of sight, Hueningkai asks, “So, where exactly are we headed next?”

Taehyun pulls out the map again, giving Hueningkai one edge to hold so he can point while they walk. “We’re going to follow the road all the way to Felwood.” Taehyun traces back over the small stretch of road they walked on earlier, going much further east until the road hits a junction, then tracing the north-bound branch. He taps the north portion of the map and it redraws itself as the region of ‘Felwood.’ The area is long and shaped like a very shallow ‘C,’ with just one road running through it. Taehyun points to a house symbol at the very southern edge of the region. “Our goal is to make it to the Emerald Sanctuary before dusk and stay at the Inn. Unlike Ashenvale, Felwood is not a great place to go camping.”

“Ugh, I don’t even want to _think_ of laying on that grey earth!” Soobin shudders.

Taehyun rolls the map up and places it back in his pouch. He turns to Hueningkai. "Hueningkai, would you mind if I asked a bit about your world?"

He shrugs. "Go for it."

"How do you wash dishes without magic?"

Hueningkai snorts. It’s an odd question to start with and it takes him by surprise. He finds himself smiling immediately. He thinks that was partially Taehyun’s goal if his satisfied expression is anything to go by. Hueningkai explains about the tedious process, mentioning that he often doesn't have to wash dishes since the band gets a lot of take away. This sparks even more questions from Taehyun, and as the topic branches into other things, like transportation, even Beomgyu and Soobin chime in. Yeonjun remains quiet, facing forward as they continue down the road.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought they would be in Felwood already, but everybody and their daughter wanted to talk this chapter so they didn't quite make it there, haha. I'm trying to do only very small time skips in this story; sometimes it's okay to just walk and talk for a chapter. Maybe I'm subconsciously delaying having to write the first fight scene, ahahaha;;;
> 
> I can't guarantee it since life is life, but I'd like to update once every week or so at minimum. Three chapters in a week is not going to be the norm, as much as I'd love to have that much free time. I'm guesstimating that there will be 15ish chapters, but it really depends on how much characters talk and get sidetracked vs how determined I am to reach the endpoint I have in mind when I start a particular chapter. In today's case, the characters won!
> 
> Couple people have been asking what's going on with Kai or if I have any plans to write the Earth side of things. Initially, I had no plans to check in with Kai, but I've been warming up to the idea of writing something for his end. The main focus for now is going to be on Hueningkai's journey, but in the future I can see myself writing a comedic one-shot where Kai struggles with modern technology and the band is on damage control while doing an interview.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed! <3


	4. Chapter 4

They stop for lunch at the three-way junction in the road, sitting on the grass and exposed roots a few steps off the cobbled path. The basket Pelturas gave to them contains some sliced roasted venison, savory herbed bread, mixed fruit salad, and berry juice. The party eats quietly, then hands the used bowls and cups off the Taehyun who quickly cleans them and puts them away in his bag.

“We’ll pick back up in half an hour,” Soobin says, looking around at the group. “We’re making good time, but double check your gear now, we won’t be stopping again before Felwood.”

Each person is immediately going through their pouches, honing blades on whetstones, triple checking spell reagents are within easy reach, checking bow tension…and then there’s Hueningkai, who remains still for a few moments. He watches the flurry of motion and feels very much like a tagalong. He knows that they don’t expect him to fight, or even really play any role in the party, but it rubs Hueningkai the wrong way to be left out. So he opens up the brown pouch on his belt and look over the instruments inside.

Along with the pan flute there are a few other instruments Hueningkai struggles to recognize. One looks like a wooden flute, another a mini hand-held harp, and the last a pear-shaped short-necked guitar with way too many strings. Out of all of them, the odd guitar is probably his best bet of learning in a short amount of time. He takes it out of the pouch to examine it closer.

It is made of light wood, the back bowed out to roughly the radius of a basketball while the front is completely flat. The peg board used to tune the strings is at a right angle from the neck of the instrument and there is a leather strap wrapped around it and hooked onto the bottom. Hueningkai slips on the strap, letting it rest on his left shoulder and holding the neck of the instrument in his left hand. Like a guitar, it has frets along the neck and the strings get thinner as he goes further down, but there are some pretty significant differences. He lightly starts plucking the eleven strings with his right hand. There are five sets of paired strings and the highest pitched string is unpaired. Each pair is tuned to the same chord, just an octave off from each other, and they are too close to pluck individually easily. He tries to practice hitting the twin strings individually then at the same time; hitting one slightly before or at a slightly different string length than the other makes the sounds slightly dissonant.

“Ahhh,” Soobin says as he plops down to Hueningkai’s right. “You did say you knew how to play the …what was it again?”

“Guitar and Piano,” Hueningkai responds.

“Right! Don’t know what a piano is, but I’ve seen a guitar once, at a concert.”

Hueningkai raises a brow. “You have concerts in this world?”

“Not really,” Taehyun says, tucking a small blade back into the sheath on his belt, “it’s really just one group of musicians who play at a monthly carnival.”

“And their music is so grating to the ears! Metallic, clangy sounds and the vocalist screams instead of sings.” Soobin shakes his head with pursed lips. “Nothing like the dulcet tones of elven music, where the singer’s voice is like a whisper on the breeze.” He sighs in contentment.

“Personally, I prefer dwarvish music,” Beomgyu pipes up. “It’s a lot bouncier and livelier, and you can actually dance to it.”

“You take that back! Elvish music has been perfected over centuries, millennia, refined into the purest form of enjoyment for the ears!”

Beomgyu rolls his eyes. “That’s just an extension of most elves being stuck in their long-lived ways. Oh, you know what’s even better though?” A smirk spread across his face. “Troll music.”

Soobin gasps, covering his mouth, looking absolutely scandalized.

“So,” Hueningkai interrupts, trying to divert wherever this conversation was going, “do any of you know what this instrument is?”

“No,” Taehyun responds quickly, also wanting to move things along. Soobin settles for puffing out his cheeks while glaring at a still smirking Beomgyu. “Kai always referred to his instruments by name.”

“What are they?”

“Florence,” Taehyun mimes holding something to the side of his mouth. “Peter,” he puts his hands together below his mouth. “Lauren,” he strums the empty air with his fingers. “And Luther.” For the last one, he points to the instrument in Hueningkai’s hands.

Hueningkai continues to practice strumming scales, getting used to the size of the instrument, with a bit of a pout to his lips. Honestly, it doesn’t surprise him at all that Kai refused to refer to his instruments by anything but their name, they’re probably in the same boat when it comes to plushies in that regard too, but it still leaves him at a loss for how to refer to the instrument. ‘Weird guitar’ even just in his head sounds like an extremely rude way to reference the beautifully crafted instrument in his hands. So, Luther it is.

Soobin eventually ends his glaring match with Beomgyu and sighs as he gets to his feet. “Alright, our stomachs have settled, we should get going now.”

Hueningkai slips Luther back into his pouch, swearing to practice when they reach the Sanctuary that evening.

With music on his mind, Hueningkai sings softly to himself a little while into their journey down the north-bound path. Taehyun and Yeonjun lead the group while Soobin takes the rear.

“You have a beautiful voice,” Beomgyu says from his side.

“Thanks…” Hueningkai quirks a brow. “Do…do you not sing as well?”

Beomgyu shrugs. “Kai is the only musical one, and he sticks to instruments. I can hold a tune, which is better than the rest of this sorry lot,” he snickers.

“If you mean you sound like those _troll_ songs you oh so like, then sure, you can hold a tune,” Soobin saucily says.

“Hey! Listen to this one!” Beomgyu clears his throat then proceeds to sing a jaunty sea shanty about journeying far from home. He sounds nothing like Earth Beomgyu’s breathy, silky smooth voice, he’s pitchy and more shouting out the lyrics than singing them. Hueningkai is startled. Music obviously doesn’t play as large of a role in this universe, let alone is the central point of their lives. Years of vocal training, and a childhood of imitating their favorite songs before that… none of that. There is no internet, no rapid way to disseminate and endlessly play tunes that they want to hear. At best, they had a traveling bard that would play a few songs then move on to the next town. Hueningkai frowns at the ground. He would hate to live in such a world permanently: music was in his blood, he couldn’t imagine not sharing that with others.

“See?” Soobin says teasingly, “You’re singing is terrible, just like the rest of us; you made Hueningkai sad.”

Hueningkai’s head shoots up and he waves his hands. “No, no, it was fine! It’s just … we’re all bards in my world, we all sing really well so it surprised me is all.”

“Geez, I forgot about that. Man, I must sound like a wailing cat to you!” Beomgyu laughs at himself. He looks to Hueningkai. “Could you sing one of the songs from your world?”

“Sure!” Hueningkai strokes his chin in thought, trying to think of the perfect song. He considers his favorite, ‘Can’t We Just Leave the Monster Alive?’, and their latest title track, ‘Blue Hour,’ but he doesn’t think they’re really appropriate, since he doesn’t know what the final boss of this journey is nor does he want to be ‘trapped in this magic.’ So instead he picks ‘Our Summer.’

It feels odd, singing the entire song by himself, particularly when the song itself is about being together, but it gives him a little comfort, too. ‘Wherever you are, whatever season it is, if we’re together, feels like summer.’

When he finishes, three sets of hands clap excitedly and there is a flurry of compliments.

“Wow, that was amazing!” Soobin gushes. “Isn’t he great, Yeonjun?”

There’s a beat of silence, then Yeonjun turns to look back at Hueningkai. “Yeah, it was a really nice song.” He’s smiling, but it’s his polite smile, not a real one. He quickly turns back to face forward. Soobin sighs, disappointed.

The mood plummets after that and the group lapses into silence. Not long after, Hueningkai starts to notice a change in his surroundings. The lush green leaves start to dull, trunks fading from purply grey to ashy white. The grass and underbrush thin out then disappear completely. Even the earth goes from a rich loamy brown to a dry dark grey. And Beomgyu becomes very twitchy. He scratches himself and rubs his hands together a lot.

“Felwood is a diseased place,” he says softly. “Nature is completely imbalanced; it makes my skin crawl.” His whole body shivers. “There are druids who live here permanently, trying to restore the balance. I salute them, I don’t know how they can stand to be here any longer than necessary to pass through.”

There's a loud commotion in the forest to their right. Growled words and animalistic snarls, pounding footsteps, and it was getting closer fast. The party immediately stops, Soobin and Beomgyu shoving Hueningkai behind them. A buck with a few crude arrows stuck into its pelt breaks out of the tree line and bounds quickly across the road and into the forest beyond. Just a few second behind it are five two-legged creatures, covered in tan and brown fur with bear-like faces. The creatures stop when they spot the party. All hands are resting on weapons, but not drawn.

"We don't want any trouble," Yeonjun says firmly.

The creatures stare at them for a moment. _Furbolgs_ , Hueningkai’s memory supplies, _Beomgyu said there were two-legged bears called furbolgs in this world, but...didn’t he say they were friendly?_ The furbolg holding a spear points it at the party, and spittle flies from its mouth as it shouts, "Attack!"

Weapons are immediately drawn, Yeonjun swinging his buckler shield into place just in time to deflect the spear tip away.

"You ugly vermin!" he shouts. "You can't even hunt a deer right, don't even dream of defeating me!"

Taehyun sends arcane bolts hurtling towards them and Soobin a flurry of arrows. When they set their sights on the others, Yeonjun hurls new curses and insults at the furbolgs and regains their attention. He manages to dodge or parry most of their blows, and Beomgyu's hands send green glowing energy towards any wounds he sustains, knitting the flesh back together quickly. One beast falls to their combined might, and this time, it doesn't get back up. At the sight of its fallen brethren, one furbolg turns tail and runs away.

"Ha! Are the rest of you cowards, too? Gonna run home to your mama and cry?" Yeonjun taunts, blocking a blow.

But the fleeing furbolg stops and pulls a horn from its belt, bringing it up to its lips.

Soobin's eyes widen in horror. "No!" He nocks another arrow and sends it flying, hitting the furbolg's wrist precisely, sending the horn soaring and the furbolg clutching its wrist in pain, but he wasn't in time to cut off the beginning of the horn's loud bellow.

Taehyun curses. "Get ready for more company!"

The party manages to fell two more before reinforcements arrive. Seven more furbolg emerge from the forest and come hurtling into the fight. Soobin nocks three arrows at a time now, and Beomgyu is sending a nigh continuous stream of green to the spinning screaming tornado of action that is Yeonjun. Taehyun pulls out a spellbook, runs his finger along a pattern then shouts "Blizzard!" and holds his right hand aloft. A white magic circle appears in the air above the furbolgs, and chunks of razor-sharp ice fall from it, tearing into their thick pelts. The ice flows around Yeonjun, never touching him. Taehyun closes his eyes, focusing, and even more ice appears. A cream coated furbolg with a club and a dark brown one with a knife stumble out of the ice circle, turn, then charge straight for Taehyun.

Yeonjun is so swamped by enemies, his taunts lost in a sea of growling furred beasts.

"Taehyun, look out!" Hueningkai shouts.

Taehyun's eyes open just in time to see the knife wielding furbolg surging forward, ready to stab. Instantly, he draws the dagger from his belt and catches the blade before it touches him. What he's not ready for is the club that comes swinging at his head.

Hueningkai screams as he watches Taehyun pitch to the side. The furbolg's knife disengages from his own and rips across his upper arm, tearing his black coat. Before he even hits the ground, Beomgyu dashes forward, throwing something ahead of him at the two creatures. His left hand closes in a fist and thorned vines erupt from the ground, wrapping around the furbolgs, completely immobilizing them.

Hueningkai lets out a breath of relief, but it's too soon. The healthy green of the vines starts to dim, quickly taking on the appearance of the surrounding vegetation. The vines become brittle and start to crumble under the furbolg's enraged struggling. Just before they break free, a long sword slashes across their unprotected backs.

"Hey! All eyes on me, I'm the biggest baddest one here! And you can't even touch me!"

Yeonjun immediately turns back around and dashes into the middle of the circle of furbolgs, a few less than just a moment before.

The two entrapped in vines finally free themselves and charge at Yeonjun.

"Kai!" Beomgyu shouts, immediately back to healing Yeonjun, "Get Taehyun out of there!"

Time stops for a moment, and it's like he can see everything in perfect clarity. Yeonjun's face twisted in a scowl as he blocks with his shield, Soobin's right eye closed as he aims where it will it will do the most damage, sweat dripping down Beomgyu's forehead as he grits his teeth, Taehyun out cold on the ground, and Hueningkai, frozen in absolute fear, heart pounding a mile a minute in his chest. He has never been more afraid and fully conscious of his own mortality in his whole life. All his brain is screaming at him to do is turn tail and run, but his heart, his heart screams at him to charge forward. And he listens to his heart.

Hueningkai darts forward, nearly stumbling to a stop next to his prone friend. He hooks his arms under Taehyun's shoulders and knees, lifting him easily. Taehyun has never felt so light before, it's probably due to the adrenaline coursing through his veins. Hueningkai dashes a few yards away from the fight and lays him on the ground. Taehyun's eyes are closed, his face peaceful, as if he is just asleep. Hueningkai takes a quick assessment of his injuries: his left cheek and hand are scratched up from his fall with tiny bits of stone and dirt still stuck in his flesh and the slash to his right sleeve. He’ll probably get a nasty bruise from the hit to his head, but otherwise, he’s fine.

He pulls out a skein of water and gently cleans off Taehyun’s scratched cheek before gently combing his bangs out of the way. His peaceful face scrunches up into a scowl under Hueningkai's hand. Hueningkai looks over him again and realizes the furbolg's knife not only ripped his coat but also cut him shallowly. He rips the hole wider to get a better look. The wound is no longer than two inches and is barely deeper than a paper cut, but there is a slightly green discoloration to the surrounding tissue, and it seems to be slowly spreading, branching as if it is following Taehyun's veins.

Poison, Hueningkai realizes with a start. The knife was poisoned.

He turns, about to shout for Beomgyu, but he's still doing everything he can to keep Yeonjun in top condition, he can't help right now. Hueningkai turns back to the green tinged wound. So, what could he do? God, he couldn't do anything but watch as his friends fought with all their might, stupid, useless Hueningkai who can't possibly fill in for Kai, can't cure poison-

Taehyun's voice from just this morning echoes in his head: _“The blue are a tasty treat while the gold make a good remedy for poison when applied to wounds.”_

Hueningkai wrenches open his green pouch, rifling through the jars of herbs and flowers, looking desperately for-

Round, golden berries, labeled as 'Moonberries' with a disgusted face with the tongue sticking out. He flings off the cap and pours out a handful. He squishes the berries between his flattened palms and presses it onto Taehyun's wound. Beneath the dripping, golden mess, he can start to see the lines of green receding. Taehyun's face settles into a peaceful expression, no longer pinched in pain.

Hueningkai sits back and just breathes. He closes his eyes, trying to force his racing heart to settle. When it no longer feels like it's going to fall out of his chest, he opens his eyes and looks over to his hyungs. The last furbolg falls to Yeonjun's blade. It is silent save for their heaving breaths. Then all three of them come hurtling towards the maknaes, a cacophony of worried voices filling the air.

Beomgyu shoves Yeonjun and Soobin towards Taehyun's feet, taking up the space on his right side opposite Hueningkai. His eyes immediately home in on the mashed berries. He opens his mouth, but Hueningkai interrupts, eyes still firmly on his unconscious friend. “Poison, the blade was poisoned, his wound was green, and it was creeping through his veins, god, I didn't know what to do, you were busy, so I just, I just remembered what he said this morning, about the berries, I didn’t hurt him more did I? The berries don't have side effect-”

A hand covers his mouth, and he follows the arm up into Beomgyu's reassuring gaze. "Hueningkai," he says gently, "what you did was good, alright? Very good, amazingly good. You saved Taehyun from feeling a lot of pain. The Deadwoods, the furbolg clan, they make a poison that makes your veins feel like they’re on fire. Just like Taehyun said, the berries help with poisoning, they're a natural remedy." His hand moves to grip Hueningkai's shoulder, shaking him a bit. "Thank you, Kai. I'll clear up the rest, and Taehyun will be as good as new, alright?"

Hueningkai nods. Beomgyu pats his head gently before turning and repairing Taehyun's minor wounds with a softly glowing hand.

Soobin wraps Hueningkai in a side hug. “He's going to be okay. Me, Yeonjun, Beomgyu, Taehyun, we're all going to be fine. You are going to be fine, too."

Hueningkai leans into Soobin and lets him wipe away the tears. He closes his eyes and just breathes. They were all fine. He was fine. Well, he'll be fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> __  
> ~~how do you write fight scenes~~
> 
> I didn't expect to update so quick, but I ended up writing this all in one sitting and then couldn't sleep for a long while after cause of the frenetic energy it is seeped in. Still learning how to choreograph fight scenes, but it's told from Hueningkai's POV and he has no clue what's going on, so it kinda balances out. Also, I am so proud of my dumb dad joke: Peter the Pan Flute. I was absolutely losing it while writing that section. x"D
> 
> I threw in some WoW music references. The game's soundtrack is full orchestral pieces and is absolutely amazing, some of my faves being 'Nightsong,' 'Curse of the Worgen,' and 'Grizzly Hills.' Beomgyu references Brewfest (Oktoberfest irl) music with brass and accordions being the main instrumentals. The band mentioned is the Elite Tauren Chieftens, who are a group of the game's development team who played concerts at the early conventions. They have in-game personas that play rock music at a monthly carnival, the Darkmoon Faire.
> 
> This is probably not how writers typically do foreshadowing, but I usually come up with the foreshadowing scene before I even think of the event that it foreshadows. Last chapter, I was literally like 'Oh, they can have berries in the morning, and I can make the berries play two roles and have an almost spit take moment, that would be funny, and Taehyun can show off how smart he is ... You know what, I can work this in with the first fight scene ...'
> 
> It's almost Taehyun's birthday, so I feel kinda bad for what happened this chapter (>o<);; Happy birthday, hope the other members aren't _too_ embarrassing when they interrupt your VLive stream!
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, I'd love to hear your thoughts! <3


	5. Chapter 5

Soobin remains by Hueningkai's side as Yeonjun and Beomgyu get useful items from the furbolgs. It should abhor him, shifting a being that was alive not twenty minutes prior to get a few coins or ornamental jewels, but instead he watches them just feeling numb and emotionally spent. When they've scrounged everything of value, they drag them off the road and Beomgyu crouches, placing his hands to the ground. He closes his eyes and whispers. The earth shifts and practically swallows up the corpses. When Beomgyu stands once more, the ground is smoothed over, as if nothing happened in this bit of road. 

Taehyun starts to shift, his head turning to the side into the folded coat placed beneath it and he groans a bit. Hueningkai squeezes his hand. Beomgyu and Yeonjun rejoin the group as he starts to blink his eyes open, the latter practically sagging to the ground. Taehyun scans the group one by one, then closes his eyes with a relieved sigh.

"What all did I miss?" he asks softly.

"Nothing worth mentioning," Soobin says. His brow scrunches a bit. "How's your head? You took a pretty nasty blow."

Taehyun runs a hand through his hair where a nasty bruise would form if Beomgyu hadn't already taken care of it. Taehyun growls a bit. "Little bit of a headache, feels alright otherwise ... My pride is bruised more than my body."

Beomgyu snorts. "Hey, that means I did my job right."

"Do you think you can walk?" Soobin asks.

"Yeah, yeah I’m fine." Taehyun rises to a sitting position, but he overshoots and ends up leaning forward on his knees. Hueningkai's arms shoot out and help to right him. "Alright, little bit of lightheadedness, should've seen that coming."

Soobin frowns then turns to Beomgyu. "Can you carry him?"

"Of course." He turns to look Hueningkai in the eyes. "Hueningkai, I'm going to shift," Beomgyu says softly. He waits for Hueningkai to nod, showing that he understands. Beomgyu takes a few steps back then falls forward as he changes into a white stag. All of his druidic features are present, even the fangs, and he now sports a massive set of antlers. He turns to the side, lining up his body with Taehyun before folding his long limbs underneath himself. Soobin helps Taehyun onto his back, making sure his arms are looped around Beomgyu's neck before stepping back. Beomgyu rises gracefully then tilts his head slightly, indicating the others take the lead.

Soobin pats Hueningkai on the shoulder. "Keep close to Beomgyu, Yeonjun and I will lead the way. We're not too far from the Sanctuary." Soobin helps Yeonjun to his feet and slings an arm around his back despite his weak protests, and then the group sets off.

The three sets of footsteps and the clop of hooves are the only sounds to break the early evening silence, the local wildlife yet to return after being scared off by the fight earlier. It's honestly a little eerie how quiet it is.

Less than twenty minutes later, a few buildings come into view, the details becoming clearer the closer they get. One looks like the night elven buildings in Astranaar, with different shades of purple wood making up a little cottage sized house. The other two are completely different. They appear to be teepees made of stretched hide and adorned with painted symbols, the one on the left furthest from the night elf house is about half the size of the central tent which has a little bit of smoke rising from the hole at the top. The ground and trees surrounding the three buildings is green: not nearly as vibrant as the plants in Ashenvale, but much livelier than the surrounding woods. The party breaks off the main road and follows a short uphill path to the Emerald Sanctuary. When they are about halfway up the path, Hueningkai lets out a shriek and grabs Beomgyu's fur tightly, shouting, "Furbolg!"

The grey-furred creature that just emerged from behind the flap of the smaller tent blinks at the shouted phrase. "Yes, what of it? Can you finally see without that eyepatch in the way?"

Hueningkai jerks back in surprise at the comeback while the rest relax.

"Nice to see you, Grazle. How are you?" Soobin raises his fist and pats his chest with it, the furbolg returning the gesture.

"Doing fine, young elf, doing fine. Curious as to why your youngest looks so shocked...?" The furbolg straightens, properly taking a look at the group. "What threw you lot through the wringer?"

Yeonjun pulls a dozen crude necklaces from his pouch. "Deadwood."

The furbolg approaches and takes the necklaces, frowning as he paws through the stack. "They've grown bolder as of late, I'm sorry that you learned that firsthand." He glances up at the group. "You lot are usually a fine oiled machine though; such a small number shouldn't have taken such a toll on you."

"Came nearly all at once," Soobin says quickly, "it was a little overwhelming when we were just walking down the road."

Grazle nods, seeming to accept it. "Well, you are safe here, and you can rest up a while." He waves a clawed hand towards the main tent. "You look dead on your feet, get some food in ya’ then sleep."

Soobin nods. "That's the plan. Have a good evening, Grazle."

“And you.” Grazle turns and strokes the necklaces between his claws, walking towards the woods.

Beomgyu lays down, allowing Taehyun to dismount then quickly changing back to his human form a moment after. Taehyun wraps an arm around Hueningkai's waist, for comfort but he's not sure for whom, probably both of them. Beomgyu holds the main tent's flap to the side allowing the others through before himself. 

As Hueningkai ducks his head and enters, he is immediately hit with warmth. There is a fire going in a metal pit in the center and it lights the tent with a warm glow. There are three occupants inside who seem to be caught in mid-conversation with the entrance of the group. One is a female elf with purple skin and long green hair while the other two remind Hueningkai of bulls. They have the long, rectangular face of a cow, have hooves instead of feet, sport a matching set of horns, and their hulking frames reach Hueningkai's chest even while sitting. 

The one on the right with solid black fur speaks. "Greetings, travelers. Will you be staying the evening?"

"Yes, we will." Soobin says. "Same rate as last time?"

The bovine nods, getting to his feet. Hueningkai’s eyes widen a touch, taking in the at least eight-foot-tall humanoid who now approaches them. He accepts the coins from Soobin in a three-fingered hand and his face curls into a friendly smile. “The three of us were just about to start dinner, you have great timing.” He waves a hand to the spacious interior of the tent. “Please, rest your road weary selves. Furbolgs, I presume?”

“Thank you,” Soobin says with a nod, “and yes, furbolgs.” The bull nods with a weary sigh and once more waves them in. The party finish entering the tent while the black bovine exits. Hueningkai helps Taehyun carefully settle down on the floor and remains by his side as the others sit down heavily around them, exhausted. They set weapons to the side, always within reach, and Yeonjun removes his hardiest outer layer of armor. As the party settles down for the night, Hueningkai tries to subtly look at the remaining brown and white bull who is currently laughing at something the elf says, but his curiosity must have been too obvious to his members.

“They are tauren,” Taehyun says softly. “Gentle by nature but they are stubborn and a force to be reckoned with when threatened. Most are enemies since they are aligned with the Horde, but those of the druidic order, the Cenarion Circle, are neutral to the conflict, focused on restoring nature’s balance.”

“The Horde?”

“Opposite faction from our own, the Alliance,” Beomgyu says. “There’s a long history between the two, a lot of blood on both sides.” He frowns, eyes looking into the middle distance. “It’s a war that’s been fought since before we were born, and it seems there’s no end in sight.”

“We don’t put much stock in politics, content with the adventuring lifestyle,” Soobin says, moving the conversation away from the grim topic. He smiles at Hueningkai. “There’s a lot of the world to be explored still, and a lot of people in need of a helping hand.”

The black tauren returns carrying two large baskets of food. The spotted tauren and elf take one and start putting pieces of spiced meat and vegetables onto a metal grate above the fire while the black bull opens the other and starts pouring cups for each of their guests. Hueningkai takes his own with thanks and surprises himself with how thirsty he is by nearly downing half the pint-sized mug immediately. He colors a bit when the tauren chuckles and tops off his cup with the pitcher of juice but thanks him again. After serving his companions who turn the food regularly, the tauren sits down a polite distance away from the party and starts nursing his own cup.

“So, what brings you lot through here? Another delivery to Everlook?”

“Ah, no, not this time,” Soobin says. “We’re on a bit of a fetch quest, headed for Hyjal.”

The tauren hums. “But you’ll be stopping at Whisperwind Grove, I presume?” After Soobin’s nod, he continues, “Would you mind delivering a report for me? As you unfortunately know firsthand, the Deadwood have grown unusually aggressive as of late and I need to send word to headquarters.”

“Of course,” Soobin nods, “we’ll be stopping there tomorrow evening, a delivery will be no trouble at all.”

The bull smiles. “Many thanks. I’ll hand it off to you in the morning before you set off.” He glances over his shoulder. “Dinner should be just about done.” He reaches into the basket beside him and pulls out a set of plates and forks. “Please, guests first.”

Each person takes a plate and the elf kindly places any piece of meat or vegetable they point to onto their plate before serving her companions and then herself. The food is delicious, the meat tasting heavily of black pepper and marjoram while the vegetables have a light garlicy note in addition to their natural flavor. The silence is only broken with praise for the cooks, who simply laugh and wave it off.

After they finish eating, goodnights are wished and the tauren leave the tent heading for their smaller one and the night elf heads for the small house. The party remains sitting by the fire silent for a few long minutes. Hueningkai glances around at the others, not quite understanding what the subtle tension in the air is directed at after the peaceful meal. If he were home, he’d say it felt like they all messed up a performance and each blamed themselves for it.

Soobin leans back on his hands, puffing out a breath. "So, let's go over what went wrong today."

"It was my fault," Yeonjun immediately says, staring at his interwoven hands on his lap. "I didn't hold all the furbolgs’ attention and Taehyun got hurt as a result." He looks across at the mage. "I’m so sorry, Taehyun."

He shakes his head. "You don't need to apologize."

"But I-"

"There was half a score of them, and you did well to keep them distracted. Soobin and I both were pulling out the stops, we were huge threats and they were bound to target us. That's how combat is normally, you know that." Yeonjun bites his lip, concern still clear on his face as Taehyun continues, stroking his neck in thought. "No, the issue wasn't with you, Yeonjun, it is an inherent flaw to the current party set up."

"What do you mean?" Hueningkai asks.

"With Beomgyu tied up with healing and casting support magic, we're down a melee fighter. Soobin and I are ranged fighters, meaning we don't take hits very well, but Beomgyu has a thick hide when he's transformed that keeps him protected, like Yeonjun's armor. As a cat, he is quick and agile, he can easily dash around and intercept any enemies that stray from the main fight." Beomgyu preens over the praise while Taehyun just rolls his eyes in response.

Hueningkai ducks his head. Oh, once again, he is the root of the problem. He tries not to dwell on this, instead focusing on the party imbalance. He didn’t really play RPG games often, but he could understand what was happening around him based on his experiences with them.

He looks up at the sound of Soobin's voice. He has his arms crossed as he stares into the fire thoughtfully. "We need Beomgyu as the healer, but we also need a melee person who can divert threat off of Taehyun and I." He glances around at the members. "If we relied a little more heavily on potions, could we manage to keep Beomgyu on the front line?"

Yeonjun blows out air slowly while running a hand through his pink tresses. "For short engagements only, I can take a beating then sip some brew after, but I don't have time midbattle."

Beomgyu frowns. "That's taking a huge risk. Injuries happen so quick. Even if I swap back and forth between forms midbattle, there's still a delay to healing magic being cast."

"Taehyun and I could scale back our damage a bit," Soobin suggests, "not use the flashy moves that bring too much attention while Beomgyu is healing."

"But then the fight takes longer and there's higher risk overall." Taehyun yawns onto his hand, shakes his head then refocuses on the others. It's contagious and Yeonjun and Beomgyu also let out yawns. Hueningkai looks around the half circle and notices the weary set to everyone's shoulders, not just from the conversation but also from a full day of activity.

Soobin purses his lips. "True, but that may be our best option, given the circumstances." He runs a hand through his hair and covers a yawn of his own. "We'll finish this discussion in the morning, I think we all could use a little shut eye."

The others nod, fully looking forward to sleeping without having to keep watch throughout the night. They each pull out their mats and settle them around the fire.

Hueningkai pulls out the same blue gazelle from the night prior and holds it close as he tries to fall asleep, but he's restless. He can hear the other members' breathing slow down and even out but he remains awake. Eventually he gives up and just stares up at the roof of the tent, watching the firelight play across the tanned hide.

The party needed Beomgyu transformed and taking threat off the main damage dealers Soobin and Taehyun, but they also needed a healer to keep Yeonjun safe. Reducing damage output was a bad idea, but not having a healer was even worse. Maybe...maybe he could help with that.

Hueningkai gets up quietly, making sure not to wake the others as he pads softly towards the tent flap. Outside, the night air is crisp and clear, a refreshing shock after the warmth of the tent. Hueningkai quickly settles the flap back into place, not wanting to cause a draft. He takes a few steps forward towards a lamppost in the Sanctuary's center, plopping to the ground and leaning against it. He pulls out Luther, slipping the shoulder strap into place then testing the sound. It's quieter than a guitar, the sound doesn't carry as much so as long as he strums gently, so he shouldn't wake the others. He runs through scales again, getting used to hitting the twin strings individually and simultaneously.

Hueningkai isn’t really sure what he needs to do to make this bard magic work, but he starts with the basics: music. He plays a few classical guitar pieces he knows. Nothing really seems to happen, he doesn’t feel any different, so he tries again with a few more modern songs. Again, it just feels like playing a guitar normally.

He leans back against the light post, staring up at the stars at a loss. He knew it was a long shot to think that he could do magic, but he was really hoping that he could, for the members’ sakes. He closes his eyes and grits his teeth, frustrated. Was he really just supposed to stand back and watch them struggle when they normally worked so cohesively? Watch them get injured and not do anything? Or worse, get into trouble himself because he was so damn useless and have one of them get hurt trying to save him? The Hueningkai of Earth was not cut out for Azeroth, he barely knew how camping worked, let alone had wilderness survival know-how. He wasn’t trained to bare any kind of arms to defend himself and others and he absolutely wasn’t trained to wield magic. And a teacher just wasn’t going to pop out of thin air to show him the ropes.

He barks a bitter laugh. That’s right, Taehyun said it himself, bards were basically a myth here. Even in this realm full of magic and mystery, there was no one who could even teach Hueningkai how to wield said magic. All he had were these instruments, not even a score to go with them…wait …

A melody floats through his mind then, ephemeral and hazy, on the edges of a dream. His fingers find the correct position on the neck and his right hand begins to strum. A melancholic tune fills the air, the instrument singing out a mournful call into the empty night air. And Hueningkai feels … something. There’s a slight electric tingle zinging along his arms to his fingers, raising goosebumps. He knows he’s on to something, but then he stops playing. There’s nothing more to play. He doesn’t know the rest of the song, only the first few bars. He slumps against the lamppost once more. This song has to be something, he knew it, but he didn’t know the entire piece. He pushes his bangs back with a hand, sighing. He doubted if any of the party would know it either, Kai was the only musically inclined individual in this world.

Hueningkai glances down at the pouches on his belt. That’s right, Kai is the only one who plays music, and Hueningkai had all his possessions. It might be a long shot but maybe, just maybe, he had some musical scores tucked away somewhere. Hueningkai gently sets Luther down onto the grass and opens up the brown pouch, taking out all the books he can find.

He finds books on alchemy and potion brewing along with a book on useful herbs and plants, detailing how to safely harvest them. In the margins of each text Hueningkai sees his own messy scrawl, or Kai’s rather, adding details to the text and drawing cute idle doodles in the corners. Well, if nothing else, this certainly explains the extensive herb collection and vials of rainbow-colored liquids that are in the pouches. He also finds a bestiary with pictures and details about a wide range of fantastical animals he’s never seen before. He’ll definitely have to look through that later, but it wasn’t what he was looking for so he sets it aside.

He finds a book on how to speak Nerglish, a fishing guide by a man named Nat Pagle, a recipe book about utilizing any kind and cut of meat, and a forest green book that lacks a title or author. A quick flip through shows landscapes, close ups of herbs and flowers, portraits of the other members midbattle and at rest. Kai seems to be a much better artist than Hueningkai. He sets it aside along with the bestiary, still determined to find something related to music.

It’s not until he gets to the bottom of the pile that he finally finds something. It is a slim book with a light sky-blue cover that looks in near pristine condition compared to the well-worn covers of the other books. Similar to the art book, it has no title or author. Hueningkai flips it open and sees musical staffs and can’t help the excited whoop he lets out. He takes a little closer look and realizes there aren’t any musical notes written on the staffs, only numbers. He lets out a sigh of relief, glad he knew how to read tablature. He flips through the book, surprised by how much a bard can apparently do: there are songs that enhance physical agility, offer minor protection, improve mental clarity for spellwork, and even some to do the opposite towards enemies.

When he turns another page, a folded piece of paper falls down into his lap. Hueningkai picks it up and unfolds the quartered parchment. Before his very eyes, handwriting appears letter by letter:

_Hello Kai,_

_My name is Kai too! Boy, it would get really confusing if we were both in the same room, haha!_

_You probably already know this, but we have switched places for a bit. But only for a bit, I promise it’s not permanent. I don’t know much about your world, but I do know that it is quite different from my own. The others probably already told you this, but I am a bard, a class that focuses on supporting others rather than plays a direct role in combat. I am the primary healer in our group, which is a very vital party role. One that I am hoping you can fill in my absence._

_I’ve written down all the spells that I use into this book. The first section is for Luther the Lute, then Lauren the Lyre, Florence the Flute and Peter the Pan Flute. Some spells are exclusive to woodwind or stringed instruments but there are general healing songs for both, so hopefully one of my partners is similar enough to one from your world. Taking care of them goes without saying, particularly to myself, so instead I’ll say I hope they serve you well on your journey!_

_Like with any music, simply playing the notes is not enough, you have to put your emotions into it as well. You are close to the party members in your world, too, correct? Love seeing them laugh and smile, hate when they cry or are in pain? Focus on that feeling, let it fill your heart up and flow through your fingers into the music. That’s probably a little vague, huh? Well, you’re me so you probably follow what I mean._

_Until the time comes when we go back to our own worlds, please keep my brothers safe. I swear to do the same with your own, but I have a feeling this is much bigger feat for you. Taehyun is my best friend since childhood and is so super smart, go to him for any questions you have about my world, he’d love to chat your ear off. Soobin is a kind and fair leader but is also stuck to me like gum. Honestly, who can blame him? Beomgyu is thoughtful when he needs to be and playful when he doesn’t. He can’t talk while shifted, making it the perfect time to get the last word in against him. Those three I’m not as worried about, but Yeonjun … All of them are my brothers, but Yeonjun practically raised me. He’s going to take this situation the hardest, I don’t need a vision to predict that. Please don’t take his words to heart; he’s still the kindest and most fiercely protective person you know, regardless of the universe._

_Good luck on your journey, Kai. There will be difficult times ahead, but I believe in you! Even when you face obstacles you don’t think you can overcome, remember that I do, and that’s basically as good as you believing in yourself, right? Ah, I confused myself with that one, haha!_

_From one plushie lover to another,_

_Kai_

_P.S. – The back will fill in when the time is right._

_P.S.S. – Please don’t show the others this note. Yeonjun is the only one that knows I can see bits of the future, and he’s going to be spitting mad that I didn’t tell him about this one. That’s an apology for me to make, not you. But I promise, it had to play out like this._

Hueningkai sits back and stares at nothing after he finishes reading the letter. That was … a lot to take in. He honestly doesn’t know what to feel. He is in part relieved to have some answers, but also confused and had a whole lot more questions. And he was actually a bit mad too. Kai knew this was going to happen, and he didn’t tell the others? Why keep them in the dark?

He looks back over the letter. So, Kai has visions of the future but only Yeonjun knows about it. He thinks back to the conversation around the fire that first night:

_Taehyun looks at Hueningkai. “He plays tunes on his instruments, and it boosts our abilities and repairs our wounds. It’s light magic, so he tells others he is a priest, but he channels through music instead of prayers, which makes him a bard. As in the class bard, not just a traveling musician. It’s a very rare ability. I’ve only met two in my life, and that’s including Kai.”_

_Yeonjun glares at the ground. “And what’s rare is commoditized.” He looks up at Hueningkai. “So when we are in towns, you are a priest for all intents and purposes, understood?”_

Being a bard was already a danger in this world because of its rarity. It made Hueningkai sick to think about, but there were apparently people willing to _pay_ to get ahold of someone with such abilities, for what purpose he couldn’t even begin to fathom. But to be a seer on top of that? He could understand keeping that on a need to know basis.

Even if the others couldn’t know, why not tell Yeonjun what was going to happen? He already knew about Kai’s powers, why keep him in the dark too? He was practically speed running the stages of grief, why put him through that when he could just tell him what was going to happen?

_It had to play out like this._

Hueningkai didn’t know much about visions of the future outside of books and movies, he was just going to have to trust that Kai knew what he was doing.

He rubs his eyes and shakes his head. There was still so much to unpack, but when he opened his eyes they landed on a particular phrase: _please keep my brothers safe._

He puts the note between the front cover and first page of the book and continues looking over the songs written in tablature for the lute. The letter had been right where the healing spells started. Hueningkai reads over the first one, for cuts and abrasions. There are others for spell damage and burns, but he figures he should start with the most important one if the number of stars and arrows drawn at the top are any indication. The melody seems simple enough. He puts Luther back on and gets into a playing position.

Two bars in, and Hueningkai can feel that same tingling sensation from before. It builds as he continues the jaunty little tune, growing and growing, becoming almost painful until … The song ends, and the feeling dissipates immediately.

That couldn’t be right, what was he doing wrong? Hueningkai furrows his brow. _Light magic is all about emotions_ , he reminds himself. He closes his eyes and pictures each of his bandmates smiling at him, of hugs and small touches, sharing meals, playing together, looking at each other as they gasped on the practice room floor, drenched in sweat, only to get back to their feet and do ‘just one more’ run through. Those smiles, that happiness, that sense of belonging to something greater than just oneself, the determination to be even better tomorrow, together…he’d do anything to protect them and get back to his home.

He focuses on that feeling as he plays the melody again. The electric charge builds and builds. He opens his eyes and gasps. There is a tiny gold cloud of magic around his fingers. As he strums the last chord, the golden magic leaves his fingers and hovers in the air. It feels like a gentle wave of energy leaves him. It is not like the crash before, this feels like the end of a warm embrace. The magic shimmers and twinkles gently, then suddenly zooms away from Hueningkai, before colliding with Grazle.

Hueningkai sits up with a start. He hadn’t noticed the furbolg’s approach, but he was only a few yards away, at the edge of town. Grazle stares at his right clawed hand, turning it back and forth before snorting. He looks over to Hueningkai, a small curl to his lips. “Cub, while I appreciate the healing, what are you doing up?”

“Pr-practicing,” he stutters out.

Grazle frowns a bit. “Young one, all of your clanmates are safe, yes? Still all in one piece?”

Hueningkai is confused, but answers, “Yes?”

“Then do not blame yourself for any perceived failures. You did well to keep them alive today, but a lack of sleep trying to right nothing will only put you in danger tomorrow. Run along and get some rest, alright?”

Oh, Grazle thought … Hueningkai quickly nods. “You’re right, it wasn’t my fault, and I shouldn’t lose sleep dwelling on it.” He quickly puts all the books and Luther back into the brown pouch before standing and dusting off his pants. He awkwardly hits his chest with his fist, like Soobin did earlier. “Goodnight, Grazle.”

The furbolg snorts, amused, but returns the gesture. “Goodnight, young one.”

Hueningkai quietly enters the tent and tiptoes back to his mat. He sits down and glances around at the faces of the others, soft and peaceful in sleep. Different, but so painfully the same simultaneously…

As he lays down to sleep, he closes his eyes and promises _Kai, I will do my best to keep them safe._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo, another chapter down! Hopefully I didn't scare anyone off with the last chapter, 0 comments honestly freaked me out a bit ahaha;;; But I suppose that's how writing fanfic is sometimes: you talk into the void and just hope it answers back.
> 
> I don't know about the rest of you, but I have been thoroughly enjoying Rhythm Hive after it was updated and finally stable. I'm a sucker for rhythm games and completing collections so I'm right at home. I appreciate that I can get even the shop-only cards through the Mix battles: haven't spent a dime but I just need Suga's Season's Greetings then I'm done with that set across all three groups, woo!
> 
> This chapter was really tricky to write, but I think it turned out alright. Funny thing about half-blind seer Kai ... like with the moonberries, I came up with the foreshadowing scene before actually coming up with this plot point. Literally, chapter 1 I was like "NYEL Hueningkai with an eyepatch was so cool, I should reference that with the fantasy Kai..." and then it just grew into an entire plot point from there. Healers usually don't take hits for the tank after all …
> 
> Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter, I'd love to hear your thoughts!!! <3


	6. Chapter 6

Hueningkai wakes to the sound of the others rolling up their mats and strapping on their gear. He rubs at his eyes as he sits up then blinks bleary eyed around him.

"Good morning, hyungs, Taehyun."

"Morning, Kai," Soobin says, reaching over to stroke his hair gently. "Did you sleep well?"

Hueningkai snorts. "You could say I had music on my mind."

Soobin raises a brow but before he can ask more, Beomgyu returns from outside the tent carrying a small basket. "Breakfast~," he sings softly.

He sits down among the rest and opens it to reveal an assortment of bread rolls and a small jar of red jam along with cups and a pitcher of juice.

The food and drink is divided up and everyone starts munching quietly on their first roll. It's only when they are on their second or third that the silence is broken with a question.

"So," Taehyun speaks, "what are we going to do about the party?"

Beomgyu sighs and scratches the back of his neck. "None of the options from last night were great, which was the least objectionable?"

"Reducing damage output," Soobin says solemnly, grabbing another roll.

Yeonjun clears his throat after swallowing. "I can handle prolonged fights, guys. And we'll only have to do that for large encounters where I can't maintain attention as easily."

Taehyun's mouth twists. "That's when we need the highest damage the most though…"

It is silent for a few beats, then Hueningkai tentatively asks. "What if we had a minor healer?"

Soobin quirks a brow. "What do you mean?"

Hueningkai smiles softly but confidently, his eyes sparkling. "I think I figured out how to cast bard magic."

"What?" Yeonjun looks over, startled.

"Kai, what? When did you even have the chance to play after yesterday afternoon?" Taehyun asks.

"Last night, I sat outside and-"

"You what?" Soobin's eyes widen and he leans forward. "Hueningkai, you can't be going out on your own!"

Hueningkai waves his hands placatingly. "I swear, it was just to the lamppost outside the tent and absolutely no further."

Beomgyu frowns. "It's still not a great idea. Even if someone patrols at night, this isn't exactly the safest place on Azeroth. You shouldn't leave our sides, particularly when we aren't awake."

Hueningkai ducks his head. "You're right, that was a bit foolish of me, huh?" He huffs a self-depreciative laugh. He looks around at four sets of worried eyes. "I promise, it won't happen again."

"Make sure of that," Soobin nods significantly. "Now, what did you mean you figured out bard magic?"

Hueningkai pats the brown pouch at his waist. "Kai had some of his music written down, and I tried playing some on Luther, who is a lute, by the way, that was also in there. And I actually cast a healing spell! It was so cool!"

"You actually managed to cast something with music?" Taehyun leans forward. "Describe it."

Hueningkai motions with his hands as he speaks. "When I was playing the song for repairing physical injuries, there was this golden glow around my fingers that, after I finished the song, formed a floating ball of magic in the air, like Taehyun's dragon light. It hovered there for a moment then zipped over to Grazle, who I hadn't noticed was patrolling near town, and it fixed up his paw!"

The tent is silent. Hueningkai looks around at the grave party members. "Is...is that not what healing magic looks like?"

Taehyun shakes his head. "That's not the issue, Kai."

"Hueningkai," Yeonjun enunciates carefully. Hueningkai looks over to him and freezes under his intense gaze. "You said you understood that first night, but I don't think you truly did. What is the one thing I asked of you with regards to magic?"

Hueningkai's heart sinks to his stomach. "To...to act like a priest when we are in town."

"And what were you doing, in the middle of town, where anyone could see, when the rest of us were asleep and couldn't tell you to stop?"

Hueningkai ducks into his shoulders. He had been so focused on helping, he honestly did forget he had to hide the fact that Kai was a bard. Hell, he had even thought about Yeonjun's warning last night and didn't make the connection that what he was doing was exactly what he was asked not to do. "I'm so sorry, I didn't even-"

"What? You didn't think? Well, you really should start."

"Yeonjun," Beomgyu starts with an edge to his voice, but gets gentler as he continues, "lay off him. He apologized already. He won't do it again, alright?"

Yeonjun looks away from the druid, running a shaking hand through his hair. Hueningkai realizes then that Yeonjun is of course mad, but behind that anger is fear: he is scared for Kai's safety. The realization only makes him feel worse for his actions.

Soobin stands and pats his shoulder. "Come on, let's get you some air."

Yeonjun closes his eyes and lets out a slow breath, nodding. Soobin slings an arm around him, rubbing his shoulder before the tent flap swings back into place, separating them from view.

"I really am sorry," Hueningkai says softly to the floor. "I just… I had to find a way to help."

Taehyun leans back, closing his eyes and letting out a long sigh. Then he lets out a small snort and shakes his head. "You really are the same," he practically whispers. He sits up straight and looks at Hueningkai. "We're lucky that it was only Grazle that saw. The Timbermaw Tribe are loyal to a fault to those that have proven themselves an ally. Even if he recognizes your magic for what it is, he won't spread it around. The druids on the other hand…"

"Would tell tall tales about it to every group that passes through," Beomgyu finishes. "Not maliciously, of course, but there's nothing but bad news in Felwood 99% of the time, a little bit of hope and something good shines bright amongst all that."

"Just, in the future, no playing spells around anyone but us, alright? Music is fine, but none of the spells," Taehyun says.

Hueningkai nods emphatically. "No more spells."

Taehyun nods, satisfied. He then claps his hands together, a twinkle to his eyes. "Now, show me what you can do."

Hueningkai pulls out Luther and gets into the playing position but glances at the tent flap. Beomgyu reads him like a book. "I'll hear if someone is nearing the tent. It's alright to play here."

Hueningkai tilts his head to the side. “Even in your human form?”

Beomgyu smirks. “Heightened senses even in human form. Druids are pretty awesome, huh?”

Hueningkai nods, turning back to Taehyun when he scooches closer in front of himself.

"Now, you said you learned the spell for physical injuries, general cuts and bruises, right?" Taehyun asks.

"Yes."

Taehyun takes the blade from his belt and rolls up a sleeve. Before Hueningkai can do more than widen his eyes, Taehyun makes a small cut across the back of his forearm. He holds it in front of himself, a few small beads of blood dripping down to the wooden tent platform.

"Why'd you do that?!"

"Have to test and see if you can be our 'minor healer,' as you put it."

Hueningkai shakes his head once: his friend truly did nothing by halves. He looks down to his fingers then closes his eyes and begins to play. He fills his head with memories of wrestling with Taehyun on the practice room floor, of going to the little convenience store before they debuted to pick up snacks, laughing and joking ... of this world's Taehyun, prone on the ground, face twisted in poisonous pain. Hueningkai opens his eyes, determination in his gaze. He'll never allow that to happen again. He finishes the last bar of the song, and the gold mist around his fingers flows towards Taehyun's open wound. It wraps gently around his arm, knitting the skin and flesh back together before disappearing, leaving behind the small trail of blood as the only evidence that he was ever injured.

Taehyun runs a finger along the healed wound before looking up at Hueningkai again. "Do you think you can learn the song for spell damage quickly?"

"Yeah, the spells are only around fifteen bars long, it shouldn't take me long."

Taehyun glances over to Beomgyu and shares a look. "We might be able to make this work," Beomgyu says softly, rubbing his chin.

Taehyun nods, returning his eyes to Hueningkai. "Learn the other spell, I'll go convince Soobin to let you have a trial run today."

Hueningkai bites his lip, trying to tamp down on his smile as Taehyun leaves the tent. Beomgyu smacks his shoulder. "You're a lucky punk, I hope you realize that."

He lets out a delighted laugh, pulling out the spell book and carefully flipping to the appropriate page. "Oh, I know it, trust me." Beomgyu shakes his head but leaves Hueningkai to his memorization.

He honestly wasn't bluffing when he said these spells were easy to learn, being so short and relatively simple music. He supposes they would have to be in order to be useful: there's not enough time to play an entire overture mid-battle. He runs through the melody a few times on Luther, feeling more comfortable with it, before Beomgyu looks up towards the tent flap. Hueningkai pauses. A few moments later, the dyed trio comes back into the tent. Taehyun has a small, satisfied smile on his face, he must have been successful. Yeonjun is back to a stony expression though he eyes the instrument in Hueningkai's grasp a touch forlornly. Soobin's expression is fairly neutral but his eyes are tentatively hopeful.

"We're moving away from Deadwood territory," he says, "so it is unlikely we'll come across another large group for at least a bit. We'll each have potions at the ready, but I'm willing to see if you can handle healing for small encounters today."

Hueningkai smiles determinedly, nodding excessively.

Soobin briefly smiles before he turns serious again. "You have to call Beomgyu for help if you start to feel overwhelmed, alright? This is neither the time nor place to try being noble, that will only put everyone in danger."

Hueningkai flattens his expression and nods once, showing he understands the seriousness of the task at hand. He will be filling in as a healer, the health and safety of the party would fall to him and that was not something he was going to trifle with. If he felt like he couldn't keep up, he'd tap Beomgyu back in. There was no room for pride when his bandmates were at stake. "Yes, I'll call for Beomgyu if I ever feel like I can't handle healing on my own."

Soobin nods once back, satisfied with the look in Hueningkai's eyes. He looks around at the group. "Let's finish packing up and clear out, we've got a long stretch to go today."

Everyone finishes packing up and Soobin tucks the remaining few bread rolls into his bag wrapped with a bit of cloth. They secure potions onto their belts and slip on their weapons while Hueningkai figures out the most comfortable way to carry Luther but also easily get him into the playing position quickly. It seems like he can have the lute slung diagonally across his back and simply rotate it towards his front and into place.

"Everyone got everything?" Soobin asks. When all he receives are affirmatives, he claps his hands together. "Alright, let's head out then."

They emerge from the teepee into the early morning light. Outside the circle of green, the forest looks dull and not near as lively as their last camping spot. The bird calls are muted, not a symphony, and he only sees one squirrel scurrying amongst the dry underbrush.

Grazle glances up from whittling a small wooden charm and stands from the stump near the small tent to approach the party. “You lot are headed to Hyjal, I hear?”

“Yes,” Beomgyu says.

Grazle grunts, then turns to look at Hueningkai, who straightens up under the furbolg’s gaze. “Young one, I hope your mind has settled; a big heart can be both a blessing and a curse.”

“It is,” Hueningkai nods, his lips curling into a lopsided grin, “but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Grazle smiles fondly. Someone shoves his shoulder lightly, probably a pleased Soobin, but Hueningkai’s gaze is focused on the wooden charm Grazle offers to him. “Take it. You all have proven your allegiance to the Timbermaw Tribe time and time again, and more than that, have proven your characters true through all your actions. Show it to my clansmen and they’ll help you with your journey a bit.” Hueningkai accepts it, turning the wooden bear around in his fingers. There are small intricate swirls carved into the figurine, wrapping around limbs and curving around features.

Soobin leans on his shoulder, looking down at the bear charm, then straightens and looks to Grazle. He places his hand on his heart and dips his head. “We are honored to receive your gift, Grazle, thank you.”

The rest of the party repeats his actions, Hueningkai only a moment later after a quick glance around. Grazle nods, pleased, before turning away and yawning into his paw. He waves his clawed hand toward the road. “I don’t intend to hold you lot up, you’ve a long day ahead of you and I’ve a bed to look forward to. Safe travels.”

“Thank you, Grazle, have a good rest,” Yeonjun says.

The furbolg walks the short distance away and enters the small tent.

Hueningkai turns to the members, turning the wooden bear around to look at different angles. “So, what exactly is this?”

“A token of favor.” Taehyun lays an empty hand out and Hueningkai quickly hands the figurine off to him. He studies the patterns with a keen eye. “We’ve received similar trinkets from the Tribe before, but these patterns are new. I wonder what they mean…”

“Well,” Beomgyu says, “we’ll find out tomorrow when we reach Timbermaw Hold.”

As the party starts moving out of town, Taehyun offers the token back to Hueningkai. He takes it back hesitantly. “Are you sure I should have it?”

Taehyun nods. “Grazle gave it to you specifically, you should hold on to it.” He smirks. “Ever the unintentional charmer, huh?”

Hueningkai ducks his head, but gently places the figurine in the green pouch, next to a plush bear.

The black tauren turns to face the approaching party when they near his sentry post at the edge of town along the road. He pulls a wax sealed letter out and hands it to Soobin. "May the winds be at your back."

Soobin takes the letter and places it into his pouch. "Thank you."

And then they are back on the cobbled road, headed through the woods to ...

Hueningkai turns to Taehyun beside himself, once more in the middle of the party with Yeonjun and a slightly twitchy Beomgyu in the lead. “Where are we headed next?”

Like yesterday, Taehyun pulls out his map and has Hueningkai hold one side. “We’re just traveling down the road today, making our way to Whisperwind Grove, the main Cenarion Circle outpost in Felwood.” His finger traces the main road through the region, moving past various symbols off the road and two rivers before reaching a house and large tree symbol in the upper third of the map. “Tomorrow, we’ll travel from there, pass through Talonbranch Glade, then Timbermaw Hold, and on to Winterspring.” Taehyun’s finger cuts across the region from one large tree symbol to another, not following the main road, then up a short distance to a symbol that looks like the head of a bear, which presumably connects to the eastern neighboring region labeled ‘Winterspring.’

Hueningkai places a thoughtful hand to his chin as Taehyun rolls up the map. “So, we’ll be going off road tomorrow? And through the friendly furbolg settlement?”

Taehyun nods. “Yeah. It’s actually safer to cut across the northern portion rather than take the road. Goblins are in that area, and they wouldn’t take too kindly to a party of humans and elves.”

“They’re practically felling the entire forest with their lumber operation,” Beomgyu gripes. “And barely replanting anything!”

“The druids have been trying to peacefully evict them for years,” Soobin comments. “Any direct attack on them would be seen as them siding against the Horde, the faction the goblins are members of. Since the druids want to remain neutral to the conflict, their hands are quite tied.”

Hueningkai frowns. “If they owned the land before the goblins came, why couldn’t they kick them out? Why would that be taken as a declaration of war?”

“‘Owning land’ is a very human and dwarvish concept, tied to lineages and inheritance: no one owns the forests of Kalimdor,” Taehyun says.

“Elves used to own land,” Soobin muses, “but it fell out of practice after the Sundering.” He looks up and clearly reads the questions in Hueningkai’s eyes. “About eight thousand years ago, there used to be just one continent, but a great magical catastrophe resulted in the land breaking into the continents we have today.”

Hueningkai’s eyes widen. Earth had a similar history with Pangea, but the continents drifted apart over the course of a few hundred million years. For Azerothian continents to be literally thrown apart instantly … magic was truly a formidable force. Hueningkai runs his fingers along the leather strap holding the lute to his back. A force he tentatively could use …

Hueningkai looks up just in time to stop before running into Beomgyu’s back, who has his mouth slightly parted, scenting the air as his eyes run over the woods to their right. Even when Hueningkai strains his ears and eyes, he can’t hear or see anything. “Three wolves, hunting, probably caught our scent when the wind shifted.”

The party falls into formation with Yeonjun in the front facing the tree line and a feline Beomgyu slightly behind him followed by Hueningkai sandwiched between Taehyun and Soobin. Hueningkai can finally hear a rustling from the woods, and it’s getting louder. He swings Luther into place and takes a shaky breath.

“Small encounter,” Soobin whispers reassuringly, “and it’s not a surprise attack. Don’t focus on the fight, just play.”

Hueningkai gives a nod. He knew he would be tested today, but he didn’t think it would be barely an hour into the journey. His left-hand tightens around the neck of the instrument, partially out of nerves and partially out of determination. He was going to keep them safe.

The wolves burst from the tree line. Arrows and spells already are flying through the air as they quickly meet the party. Hueningkai has never seen a wolf so close, but they are a lot larger than he’d imagined, the one in the lead slightly larger than the two flanking it, and it is nearly as long as Hueningkai is tall. Despite their dark grey coats of fur, their ribs and hip bones are prominent and there is a desperate light in their eyes. The one in the lead lunges head on at Yeonjun with a growl, balancing on its hind legs, snapping its jaw on empty air as he holds the wolf slightly away with his shield. One of the smaller ones latches onto his calf, eliciting a pained shout. Meanwhile, the third wolf who was trying to slink around to Taehyun is intercepted by Beomgyu. He bats it away with his claws and roars ferociously in its face, herding it back towards Yeonjun. Yeonjun lets out his own growl and shoves the large wolf away and brings the pommel of his sword down on top of the smaller wolf’s head, making it skitter a few feet away with a whimper. A soft gold light wraps around his calf, and the wound is instantly gone.

Hueningkai follows Soobin's advice and keeps a majority of his focus on the music, but he still follows the fight with his eyes as his fingers fly.

Beomgyu and Yeonjun hold the wolves at bay throughout the whole encounter. As soon as one even sets a paw or turns their snout in the trio's direction, their inattention to the melee duo is rewarded with a heavy blow. In turn, Soobin and Taehyun are able to focus their aim to a deadly degree. Hueningkai repairs any bites that the wolves manage to land, but it is honestly only a few at best. They really do work amazingly well together, even with a minor healer. When the last wolf falls, all is silent save for their gasping breaths. Hueningkai closes his eyes, holding Luther close as he just breathes. He did it, he actually did it. A hand musses his hair and he opens his eyes to a beaming Soobin. "Well done, Kai."

Taehyun claps him on the shoulder, grinning proudly. Hueningkai cracks a smile, closing his eyes and letting out a breathy laugh. This whole situation was absolutely absurd, completely confounding, and positively petrifying, but god, did he feel proud in that moment. He had cast healing magic that allowed the party to function nearly like it normally did. Not one moment was anyone in serious danger.

Hueningkai opens his eyes and looks at each of the members. He kept them safe. Hueningkai kept them all safe. 

_Kai, I just might be able to keep my promise._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't realize it till after I posted the last chapter, but we are more than 20k in and only two days have passed. When I said I didn't want to do time skips in this fic, I didn't think that meant everything would be happening so slowly haha. This chapter continues the trend, as I thought they would already be in Whisperwind Grove by the end, but my original stopping point became further and further away, so instead I just ended it after we came full circle to the last chapter's closing line.
> 
> I'm heavily debating adding in a small fight scene to the Ashenvale section. I like the shock that is the sudden furbolg fight when everything was so calm up to that point, but I also want to contrast it with the fact that they are competent fighters and it really was the overwhelming numbers and threat management that made it all fall apart. I'll let you know if I go back and change anything.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, I'd love to hear your thoughts!!! <3


	7. Chapter 7

Hueningkai breathes in deeply as he wipes the sweat from his brow. He may not be part of the fights directly, but the tension was high even from the sidelines. He opens his eyes and looks around. Soobin is rearranging the arrows in his quiver, Taehyun is restocking some of his battle-ready reagents with the stock in his expanded bags, Beomgyu is shifting back into his human form, and Yeonjun is washing thick green slime off of his weapon with a water skein and spare cloth. Beyond the little group is a large lake of green water to the right of the road which flowed westward down a bluff, disappearing amongst the white half-dead trees that made up the forest. As Hueningkai found out at the first river they crossed, the water flowed down the mountain, pure and clean but became green from the taint that permeated all of Felwood. It was unfortunately the only thing the animals had to drink, driving them slightly mad. And sometimes, the magically tainted water took on a life of its own, becoming a sludge creature that reminded Hueningkai of the Pokémon Grimer. Except they were quite a bit more frightening, with skulls and bones of animals it had previously consumed visible through its translucent body. A shudder runs down Hueningkai's spine: he hopes that is the last time they have to face such a creature on this journey.

A hand pats his shoulder. He follows the arm up to the smiling face of Soobin. "You're doing a great job, Hueningkai."

"Yeah, absolutely amazing for a greenhorn," Beomgyu adds with a grin. "But if you're starting to tire out, I can swap in for a bit."

"No, I'm still good, promise. How much further to town?" Hueningkai asks.

"Less than an hour," Taehyun responds, looping his arm around Hueningkai's.

"Yeah, we've made good time today," Soobin says, eyeing the late afternoon sun. "We'll arrive at the Whispering Grove even before sunset."

"Let's go, I can't wait to reach the regrown forest and sleep on a real bed tonight!" Beomgyu says gleefully.

The party sets off once more, crossing the bridge and quickly putting the green water behind them. Two large slimes at each river, another small pack of starving wolves, and one sickly bear with raw rashes across its pelt made up all the encounters throughout the day. It was astronomically more battles than Ashenvale, but the members did not seem surprised in the least, so Hueningkai assumed it was par for the course for this scarred region.

And he was keeping up with them. He still could only repair physical wounds and spell damage and had to leave the infectious bite from the bear to Beomgyu, but overall, he really was able to help out and maintain the party balance. He could not wait to get into town and start learning other spells, wanting to protect his hyungs even better.

The party is quiet in the last leg of the journey, excited for a chance to rest. And soon enough, Hueningkai starts to notice a change in their surroundings. The trees start to have more leaves and the bark is closer to grey than white. Leafy underbrush appears around their roots and bushy-tailed squirrels, lop-eared rabbits, and even a little fox scamper off between the trunks as the party passes. The tension in everyone's shoulders, particularly Beomgyu's, dramatically decreases. Soon enough, they come upon a fork on the road and take the right one headed for a few buildings hidden amongst the trees.

Only one is visible from this angle. It is long and rectangular with an awning covered porch on the back facing the road with a stone base and mixed purple wood Hueningkai recognizes as characteristic of elven construction. As they draw nearer, they pass by a pair of small but thick trees that seem to have faces.

"Ancients," Taehyun says from his side, "sentient forces of nature that work with druids to maintain balance and protect wildlife."

Hueningkai's eyes widen. "They're alive?" He straightens his back, looking towards the living trees. "Not that there's anything wrong with that! I love trees!"

There is a groaning from one of the ancients, like stepping on a creaky board in an old house.

"He's laughing at you," Beomgyu says with a smirk.

Hueningkai ducks his head in embarrassment until they finish passing the amused ancients. When he looks up again, he gasps. He understands why there was a tree symbol on the map now. To the right of the road is an enormous tree, one that towers over the rest, the diameter of the trunk at least the length of two cars. It has a ramp and balcony wrapped around it, reminding Hueningkai of a treehouse, but then he notices there is a doorway cut into the trunk, so maybe it was a literal tree house.

They finally arrive at the town center and his eyes drink in everything. The tree house has an inviting porch and a large door seemingly made of the trunk itself with just a handle attached. In addition to the stone-based building to the left, there is a mirrored twin on the other side of town along with a few small wooden elven houses and teepees around the circular path. In the center of town there is a stone well, only about a foot high. It has a wooden gate with hanging lanterns and talismans, reminding Hueningkai of a torii gate. But the water literally shimmers with energy, sparkling like liquid starlight.

"That's not normal water, is it?"

"No, it's a moonwell," Soobin says. "The water is blessed by the goddess and has purifying properties. Took the druids ages to cleanse the land enough to set one up."

Hueningkai quirks a brow. "Goddess?"

"Elune: goddess of the moon, lover of the nature god, Malorne, and mother to the kaldorei, the elven people," Taehyun says. He can see the questions burning in Hueningkai's eyes, so he pats his arm. "We can talk more at the Inn; I'm really looking forward to sitting down."

"Seconded," Soobin says, walking up the steps to the tree house and holding the door open for the others.

Inside, the room is circular, as if the tree had been hollowed out but was somehow still alive and thriving. There is a ramp that goes up and out of the room, presumably the same ramp Hueningkai had seen from the outside. There are a few tables with chairs to the left and a small counter to the right with a blue-skinned female elf with white hair. "Welcome, will you be staying the night?"

Yeonjun steps forward. "Yes, for five, please." He slides a few gold pieces forward and she gives him back some silver coins in change along with a brass key.

"Thank you for staying with us! Dinner will be ready in about three hours, are there any dietary preferences?"

"No tomatoes, please," Taehyun says.

She nods. "Not a problem, I'll go tell the chef." She gives a customer service smile as she waves her hand towards the stairs. "Second floor is all yours." She then turns and enters a door along the right wall.

Hueningkai finds it a bit odd that Taehyun doesn't like tomatoes instead of Beomgyu, but maybe there were slight differences between the worlds, ones that were quite inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.

The party heads up the ramp, emerging among the foliage of the great tree. A few birds flit about the branches, within arm’s reach of the winding wooden ramp they ascend. Hueningkai smiles as he looks at a white fluffy bird cleaning its feathers. The Grove and Sanctuary were truly worlds apart from the rest of Felwood, he sincerely wished the druids the best of luck in repairing the forest and restoring balance.

Yeonjun stops in front of a door carved from the bark, like the front door. It swings open soundlessly after he unlocks it and everyone files inside.

There are five beds with purple silken sheets along the right wall, a small wooden table with five chairs near the door on the left, and a few standing screens blocking the back left corner from view.

"Alright," Soobin says, stretching his hands with narrowed eyes. "Rock, paper, scissors for bathing order."

Hueningkai lets out a chuckle at the serious looks in everyone's eyes. Truly, the essentials were the same across worlds.

Soobin ends up last, much to the delight of a second to last Beomgyu. The teasing lasts long enough for Yeonjun to remove his armor and enter the little bathroom area, which is not a quick endeavor with the number of buckles involved.

Soobin sighs. "Well, guess this is the perfect chance to deliver the report. I'll be back in an hour."

As he turns to leave, Beomgyu stands as well. "Kai, you alright sticking with Taehyun?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Alright," he smiles, "I'm going to go savor healthy nature. First time all day I feel like I can finally breathe!"

Taehyun makes a waving motion with his hand. "Go romp around the trees, just don’t trail it back to the room."

Beomgyu laughs. "Yes, mom." He laughs more seeing Taehyun's unamused stare but also leaves the room.

Taehyun lets out a long sigh. "An hour of peace."

Hueningkai chuckles. "It never lasts long in this group."

Taehyun rolls his eyes. "That's for sure." He looks contemplatively at the door then back to Hueningkai. "You want to see something cool?"

Hueningkai is immediately intrigued. "Of course."

"Yeonjun, Kai and I are going to sit at the top of the ramp, call when the bathroom is free!"

There must be some kind of sound dampening spell, cause there's no other reason for Taehyun to shout just to be heard across the room. Between the very, very faint sloshes of water, Yeonjun responds with a "Sure," and then they also leave the room.

The two head up the ramp, spiraling and spiraling around the massive tree. They pass two other doors, presumably to smaller rooms as the trunk continues to decrease in thickness, till they hit the top of the ramp. There is yet another door there, but the landscape is what catches Hueningkai's attention.

Although some parts were blocked by branches, the view was spectacular. They were in the tallest tree for miles and could easily see well beyond the rejuvenated patch of land. The balcony looked off towards the east, where the land dipped down after a bluff at the edge of town.

"What are those?" Hueningkai points to three large bare trees that surround a few pools of green water in the mini valley.

"Ancients," Taehyun responds, his eyes also on the horizon, "like the ones we saw earlier, just much, much older."

"But those must be massive! At least as tall as a two-story house!"

"They never really stop growing, like their unanimated counterparts."

Hueningkai continues looking at them, wondering why a sentient tree would choose to be rooted in the unhealthy land instead of the loamy soil surrounding the Grove. Then he puts it together. "Are they...dead?"

"Yes," Taehyun says solemnly. "The Irontree Ancients were some of the last to fall to the corruption but fall they did." Taehyun turns towards Hueningkai. "But nature rebuilds, as Beomgyu says. The Cenarion Circle has made huge progress over the past few years. Slowly but surely, Felwood will be cleansed."

Hueningkai likes that hopeful take. He looks out over the land. Magic may have been the cause of this rot and destruction, but it also was the cure: poison and antidote. It all just depended on the user's intentions.

His eyes move past the Irontree trio, seeing a small stream beyond them and even further beyond that is a massive tree that dwarfs the surrounding woods. Unlike the one they were currently sitting in, the tree is black-barked, did not have leaves and seemed to have streaks of vibrant cobalt blue running along its trunk.

"Is that the other tree symbol on the map?"

Taehyun nods. "Talonbranch Glade." He traces with his finger, starting from town. "We'll hug the mountains in tomorrow's trek and should be able to arrive there around midday."

“Why does it look so different from the tree we’re in now?”

“A few Gilnean druids brought a seed with them from their homeland across the sea. They tried to imbue it with energies from the moonwell there, but it ended up growing immediately, taking the moonwell with it.”

“Wow, that sounds bad.”

“The druids saw it as a blessing from their goddess, a beacon of hope in this scarred land.” Taehyun shrugs. “Personally, I think it was just a fluke: mana and magic ran a little rampant around that time, a lot of areas were reshaped as a result.”

Hueningkai hums. He looks towards the intact moonwell in the center of town. “You said ‘their goddess.’ Is Elune only believed in by elves and druids?”

“Worshiped yes, but only a fool would doubt the existence of Elune: Azerothian heroes have fought with and against too many cosmic beings to deny that they are real.”

Hueningkai contemplates this. It sounded similar to tales of the Greek and Roman gods who would interact with man. The difference of course being that unlike on Earth, these magical beings were real and not just tall tales to explain natural phenomena.

"Taehyun!" Yeonjun calls from a few spirals down. "Your turn!"

"Alright," he calls back, "we're coming back down!"

The two youngest arrive back at their room, closing the door behind them. Yeonjun sits on the nearest bed, his armor on his lap and a thick needle in hand as he repairs some of the damage from today's battles. Taehyun removes his coat and boots, placing them on and by one of the chairs as Hueningkai takes a seat at another.

"Taehyun, Yeonjun," both look at the youngest. "Would you two mind if I practiced a little?"

"I don't mind at all," Taehyun says with a smile. "Yeonjun?"

Yeonjun's eyes are back on his stitches. "Do whatever you like."

Taehyun narrows his eyes a bit at him but doesn't comment. "I'll be quick, then you can get cleaned off too," he says to Hueningkai before disappearing behind the screens.

Hueningkai takes out Luther and the scores of spell music, intent to fill the awkward silence.

He starts learning the spell for burns, thinking that would be pretty useful, and then switches to the one for poisons. Throughout all this, he notices out of the corner of his eye that Yeonjun routinely looks up from his repairing to look at Hueningkai.

Finally, Hueningkai turns to look him in the eye. “Does the music sound off?"

"No, it sounds like normal," he says with a frown, "like you were born to play it."

Hueningkai furrows his brow. That was...a really strange way to refer to musical talent? Before he can think of any other explanation for Yeonjun's strange turn of phrase, Taehyun emerges from the screens, hair shiny and in a fresh set of clothes.

"All yours, Kai. Just leave your dirty clothes in the pile, I'll clean everyone's at once."

"Okay, thank you." He puts away Luther and the spellbook, heading towards the screens.

Hueningkai remembers going over to a friend's house when he was young and getting very confused when the sink faucet operated completely differently from his own and had to ask his friend how to turn it on. That confusion paled in comparison to trying to figure out the magical medieval bathroom before him.

"Taehyun," he calls, "could you show me how all this works?"

"Oh, sure." Taehyun steps inside, pulling Hueningkai from the doorway along with him. "You use this pump to draw water," he points to a faucet attached to the wall with a lever handle. He demonstrates by swinging the lever up and down and steaming hot water flows into a small wooden bucket positioned below it. He points to a rectangle of wood attached to the wall. It has a latch-closed door and comes up to Hueningkai's waist. "There's a stool in there you can sit on, then you dump water over yourself to rinse. Holes in the bottom lead outside."

Hueningkai glances at the other bucket-looking thing with a keyhole in the seat, needing no explanation for the rudimentary toilet. "Alright, thank you."

"There should be soap and shampoo tucked somewhere in your bags," Taehyun says, stepping out of the bathroom. "Call if you need anything else."

"Will do." He closes the screen, noticing how sounds from outside the space immediately tone down. Definitely some kind of muffling charm. Hueningkai digs around his bags, finally coming across a bar of soap and a thick silvery liquid amongst the potions labeled "Shampoo" with a little smiley face. He undresses, tossing his clothes along with Yeonjun and Taehyun's in a basket and sets about taking a bucket shower. He sighs in relief as he cleans nearly three days of sweat off his skin and oil from his hair. The soap smells lovely, like vanilla and almonds, and the shampoo like cherries, adding to the calming effect of the shower. His tired muscles feel like jelly by the time he's done, but he forces himself to stand and towel himself dry, there are still two others who need to shower after all. He grabs a fresh set of clothes out of the green pouch, dresses, then puts the pouch belt onto the new outfit.

When he steps out of the bathroom, he sees that the others have returned. Both Beomgyu and Soobin sit at the table while Taehyun has claimed the middle bed, sprawled out on top the sheets. His eyes are closed but open immediately and flick along with the others to look at Hueningkai. And then he does a double take. Soobin laughs and swats at a chortling Beomgyu.

"What's so funny?" Hueningkai asks in confusion.

"Oh my god," Beomgyu gasps between laughs, "Kai pranked himself!"

Taehyun is sitting up now. He gestures towards his hair at Hueningkai's mystified look. "Your hair is bright, cherry red."

"It's what?!"

"Kai makes all our shampoo," Soobin says, his laughter finally subsiding. "When he's feeling cheeky, he'll throw in something special. You must have found one of those concoctions."

Hueningkai sits down on the bed between Taehyun's and the empty one, digging through the brown pouch. He finds another bottle of "Shampoo," but the label has a little frowny face with a tongue sticking out. Of course he would label them the opposite if he was trying to pull a prank. "It's not permanent, is it?"

Beomgyu snorts. "No, at most just a few hours."

Hueningkai lets out a sigh of relief.

Soobin nudges Beomgyu. "Go take your shower, I want to take a nap before dinner." _A nap sounds amazing._

Beomgyu places a hand to his chin thoughtfully. "Or I could just take forever and savor all the hot water."

Soobin rubs his eyes with a long-suffering sigh. "Be the leader, they said, it'll be fun, they said…"

Beomgyu musses his hair as he stands. "We weren't lying, we're an absolute hoot!"

"Since you can literally turn into an owl, I suppose I can't deny that."

Beomgyu shakes his head in amusement before sliding the screen shut.

Soobin turns and notices the maknae's drooping eyes. "Get a little sleep, you've more than earned it."

Hueningkai hums, letting himself fall back onto the bed. Wow, it was soft, like a cloud drifting through the sky, drifting, drifting, drifting…

He opens his eyes, looking up at Taehyun who just shook him awake. "Dinner will be served soon."

Hueningkai sits, yawning into his hand as he stretches. He helps Taehyun out by shaking Soobin awake, who had claimed the bed next to Hueningkai's. He slings an arm around Hueningkai and leans on him heavily as they make their way down to the first floor, only perking up when the white haired elf comes out of the kitchen with plates of food. Platters of sauteed vegetables, cut fresh fruit, a grain that looked similar to lentils, bread, and cheese were laid out before them.

“I hope you enjoy your meal,” the elf says.

Everyone thanks her. She nods, then steps back through the door behind the counter.

It is quiet as everyone tucks in. There are a lot of fruits Hueningkai has never seen before, but he finds that moonberries remain his favorite out of all of them. Honestly though, everything he tries is so delicious that Hueningkai quickly fills up. Taehyun and Beomgyu have their fill soon enough, leaving Soobin and Yeonjun to work on practically cleaning the platters.

“So,” Beomgyu says, breaking the silence, “today went a lot better than expected. I didn’t need to step in even once!”

Soobin quickly swallows so he can gush, “Kai, you did so well! Absolutely amazing!”

Hueningkai ducks his head and smiles. “Thanks, you guys.”

Taehyun puts his hand on Hueningkai’s shoulder. “I don’t think you realize how amazing that is. You didn’t even know of the existence of magic three days ago and yet you were able to learn it and use it immediately. That’s prodigal virtuoso level stuff.”

Hueningkai can feel his ears heat up with their sincere praise, so he laughs it off. “Yeah, I’m adapting so well, even managed to dye my own hair.” Everyone chuckles at his self-deprecating joke and Beomgyu reaches over to ruffle his still cherry red locks.

A spoon slamming into the tabletop cuts the laughter off, all eyes turning towards Yeonjun. His mouth is a twisted facsimile of a grin. "Why are we even going to Hyjal at this point?"

"Yeonjun," Soobin's lips turn down at the corners, "what are you talking about?"

Yeonjun lets out a bitter bark of a laugh. "This Kai laughs and talks the same, he smiles and hugs you, he can heal you, hell he even has both his eyes! It seems like you're all content with Hueningkai, why bother getting them switched back?"

"What nonsense are you spouting?" Beomgyu has his eyebrows furrowed in a mix of worry and agitation. "Obviously we want to get Kai back."

Yeonjun places his palms flat on the table, leaning forward slightly. "Sure doesn't seem that way."

Taehyun narrows his eyes. "Of course he's similar to Kai, he _is_ Kai. Of course we should treat him the same, he is still _Kai_. That all makes sense. What doesn't is you being an asshole to him from the start."

"Tae-"

"No, Kai, he doesn't get to be a jerk just because he's afraid." Taehyun turns back to the eldest. "You're not fooling anyone with this act, least of all me: you've buried your insecurities under a scowl and barbed words since we were kids."

Yeonjun tilts his head down, his hands curling into white knuckled fists.

"Taehyun, that's enough," Soobin says firmly.

"What are you so afraid of, Yeonjun?" Taehyun persists. "Huh?"

"He's not coming back!" Yeonjun stands, his chair scraping across the floor with the sudden movement. "Kai is stuck in another dimension without me!"

"How are you so sure?" Taehyun shouts back.

"Taehyun!" Beomgyu grabs the back of his collar to keep him in his seat. "Chill out."

"You don't get it," Yeonjun says in a small voice, shoulders sagging, defeated. He closes his eyes and shakes his head. "God, he's not coming back," he brokenly whispers.

"Yeonjun," Soobin starts asking, "what are you-"

Yeonjun spins on his heels and is out the door in an instant.

There's a beat of silence, then Beomgyu turns sharply and looks behind him with a slight glare. "Show's over." Hueningkai turns away from the entryway just in time to see the door to the kitchen swing shut inaudibly.

Everyone is silent, slowly coming down from the emotional high and processing the fight. This wasn't brand new territory for Hueningkai. The band had disagreements from time to time, especially in the beginning. They had been a team for nearly four years at this point, but they were five unique individuals and they did not see eye to eye on everything. What was important was that they could work out their problems and move forward together.

Soobin lets out a long sigh, running his fingers through the hair on the back of his head. "I'm going to talk to Yeonjun, he shouldn't be out there alone."

Taehyun sniffles and nods, eyes downcast and regretful. Beomgyu wraps an arm around the blonde, rubbing his arm in comfort.

"Take the maknaes up to bed, please, I'll be back later." Soobin and Beomgyu share a look, the latter nodding his agreement.

As Soobin gently pushes his chair out to stand, a thought, lightning fast, flashes through Hueningkai's mind.

Kai could see the future, or at the very least, important details about major life events. And Yeonjun knew about them, was normally the only one Kai told them to. But not this time. And the conclusion Yeonjun jumped to was…

Hueningkai's hand shoots out, grabbing Soobin's wrist as he is about to pass him. Soobin jerks back and looks towards the youngest in confusion.

"Kai, what-"

"Let me talk to him."

Soobin furrows his brow. "I don't know if that's the best idea…"

"You tried talking to him this morning and couldn't get anything through his thick skull, right? After you settled him down, he just shut down."

"How did you…" he shakes his head and snorts. "You're Kai, of course you know, you can read us like a book." When Soobin opens his eyes, he is met with Hueningkai's earnest, pleading gaze.

"Please, let me talk to him."

Soobin purses his lips, thinking for a few moments before he sighs. "Alright, but if you both aren't back to the room in an hour, I'm coming out to drag you both back inside. We're still walking all day tomorrow, you need your rest."

Hueningkai smiles. "Thank you." He hops to his feet and quickly exits the Inn.

Outside, everything is outlined in silvery moonlight and the central moonwell glows even more brightly than before. There is no one outside at this time, everyone eating or turning in at their homes or out on patrol, making it very easy to spot Yeonjun. He sits near the bluff to the east of town, overlooking the pools of slimy green water and the Irontree trio Taehyun pointed out earlier. As Hueningkai approaches, Yeonjun's shoulders stiffen. "Go away, Soobin, I don't want to hear it right now."

"Not Soobin."

Yeonjun whips around in surprise. Pain flashes in his eyes before he turns back around. "I don't want to talk to you either," he says gruffly.

Hueningkai sits down resolutely to Yeonjun's left. "We can't keep putting this conversation off."

"'We?' There is no 'we,' Hueningkai." To punctuate this point, he scoots a few inches away.

Hueningkai sighs. "There could be, if you just-"

"No."

"-listen for five seconds-"

"No!" Yeonjun interrupts a second time. "I'm not like the rest of those lovable but woefully in the dark idiots and I am not going to let you just replace Kai."

Hueningkai's brows pinch, irritation leaking into his tone. "Yeonjun, that's not what I'm trying to do at all.”

"Then what are you trying to do?"

"I'm trying to go home!" Hueningkai snaps. His voice cracks on the last word but he plows on. "I don't belong here, and I don't want to replace anyone. I have my own life to live back on Earth, one that doesn’t involve constantly seeing my hyungs in life-or-death situations. I’m not built for this! I know it's just the way it works around here, but I don't want to see things die!"

Hueningkai closes his eyes and clenches his hands tightly, trying to calm himself down. It wasn’t until he said it out loud that he fully understood how he felt. All day, there’d been a pit in his stomach after the adrenaline wore off, and it grew with every encounter, every swing of a blade or paw, every flying arrow or spell. He had compared Azeroth to a fantasy RPG before, and the similarities were abundant, but killing something on a screen was so vastly different to experiencing it firsthand. He was so glad to be able to protect them but simultaneously appalled and frightened by what was going on. He so desperately wanted to wake up, that this was all just a nightmare, but it wasn't.

A few minutes pass, then Hueningkai hears a world-weary sigh to his right. He looks over to Yeonjun. He is sagged into himself, all the fight drained from him, leaving only a soul deep sadness behind.

“I’m sorry,” he says softly. He wipes his eyes, clears his throat, and turns to look Hueningkai in the eyes. “I’m so sorry, Hueningkai,” he says louder. “You didn’t ask for this either. Just because I’m an anxious, depressed mess doesn’t give me the right to take it out on you or the others.” His eyes tighten. “But I have this…intuition…that the switch is permanent, that no matter what we try, you’re stuck here and Kai…” He closes his eyes tightly and takes a few shaky breaths. "No one can replace him, not even you."

Hueningkai looks down at his hands, thinking. Yeonjun was hopeless, thinking that Kai did not tell him anything because the switch was a one-time thing. Hueningkai could not stand to see him in pain, especially when he knew crucial information that would change everything. The others did not know about Kai’s visions, but Yeonjun did. Coming to a decision, he looks up to Yeonjun, determination in his eyes. “We are going to switch back.”

There is a bitter twist to the eldest’s lips. “Hueningkai, as much as I want to cling to that hope, you don’t-”

“I know it for a fact,” he says firmly, “Kai said so.”

A flurry of emotions flash across Yeonjun's eyes: confusion, disbelief, pain, fear, hope. "...what?" he asks breathlessly.

Hueningkai reaches into the brown pouch at his waist and pulls out the sky blue book. He flips open the cover and picks up the letter, handing it off to Yeonjun.

Yeonjun takes the letter carefully, mouth falling open as he reads. When he gets to the end, he inhales sharply and his grip tightens, crinkling the page. He covers his mouth with one hand, eyes unseeingly ahead as he hands the parchment back to Hueningkai. He takes it, laying it flat back on the book as he tries to straighten it out. As he does so, his fingers run along a new line at the bottom:

_Yeonjun,_

_I love you. I’m sorry that I couldn’t tell you, but I promise, I had to be hit by that spell. I'm coming home, wait for me a bit longer. Please help Kai, he needs a big brother to look out for him when his own can't._

Hueningkai sighs in relief. He really was lucky; he hadn’t screwed up anything if there was a new note from Kai. He puts the book and note away then looks back to Yeonjun who seems to have gathered his thoughts a bit.

Yeonjun clears his throat. "When’d you find that?”

“Just last night, along with the musical scores.”

Yeonjun nods. “Well, you know about my ‘intuition’ then.” He huffs a breath. “God, he was so affectionate right before the switch, I knew he was hiding something. At first when you flipped, I held out hope that it was reversible, but when you were able to do light magic and perfectly fill his shoes, I thought ‘Oh, Kai must have been saying goodbye then.’” He shakes his head. “But he is right: if I knew what the spell was going to do and when it was going to happen, I’d never have let him be hit by it, cosmic consequences be damned.”

The two look out over the moonlit view, silent for a few moments. “So, what do we do now?” Hueningkai asks.

Yeonjun rubs the back of his neck. “Nothing changes, we still need to track down the Twilight Priest and get that spellbook if we’re going to send you back.” He turns to face Hueningkai. “And I’m going to start acting like a proper teammate and elder brother.”

Hueningkai smiles softly back. “I’m glad.”

Yeonjun snorts before ruffling Hueningkai’s hair. “‘I’m glad’ he says. You should be yelling at me, cursing at me for being so shitty to you.”

Hueningkai straightens up and clears his throat dramatically. “Screw you, Yeonjun! You’re such a terrible person! So lame and uncool!”

Yeonjun throws his head back in laughter. “What the hell? Did my alt-universe self not even teach you how to curse properly?”

Hueningkai rolls his eyes. “Oh no, he sets a perfect example: almost cursed on national television a few times at our antics.”

“Television?”

“It’s like a stage play viewable in every person’s home, from children to elders.”

His eyes widen. “He curses in front of kids?”

“I said almost! Give yourself some credit here.”

“Yeah, Yeonjun, not every universe’s version of yourself is as bad as you are.”

The two turn with a start. Soobin is a few yards away, a fond look in his eyes. “I guess I shouldn’t have been worried, Kai is always good at talking you out of your own head.”

Hueningkai blinks up at Soobin. “Since when were you…?”

“Since the ‘cursing.’” He quirks a brow. “Why?”

Hueningkai freezes slightly, but Yeonjun has it covered. He razzes up his hair with an embarrassed growl. “No one wants their lowest moment witnessed by more people than absolutely necessary!”

Soobin rolls his eyes. “Ah yes, this is definitely your lowest moment, mhmm, for sure.”

“Hey!” Yeonjun thins his lips, unamused, before he sobers up and turns to Hueningkai. “Thank you, Hueningkai, I really did need a kick in the right direction.”

He smiles. “Always happy to help.”

Soobin claps his hands. “Come on you two, there are real beds waiting for us.”

Yeonjun hops to his feet and offers Hueningkai a hand. He accepts it but doesn’t let go once he’s standing. Instead, he pulls a surprised Yeonjun into a hug. He freezes at first, but then melts into the taller boy’s hold. “You’re too nice for your own good.”

Hueningkai shrugs. “Big heart and all that.”

The trio return to the Inn and walk up the winding ramp to the second floor. When they open the door, Taehyun and Beomgyu glance up from where they are seated at the small table, Beomgyu's arm around Taehyun's shoulders.

Yeonjun steps forward. "Taehyun, I'm sorry. You were right, like you always are. I was scared and hopeless and lashing out, at you, at Hueningkai, at everyone." He looks each of the members in the eye one by one. "You didn't deserve that; you deserve a whole lot better than the mess I've been the last few days. I'm sorry."

Taehyun stands and engulfs Yeonjun in a hug. "I'm sorry I was so sharp earlier, there was a better way to approach that."

Yeonjun barks out a laugh. "I need simple, Tae, I'm a simple man who swings his sword around."

"You're not that shallow," Taehyun gripes lightly.

Beomgyu claps Yeonjun on the shoulder. "Glad you've got your head on straight again."

"Yeah, me too," Yeonjun says, glancing up at a smiling Hueningkai and Soobin.

Soobin shoves Hueningkai forward. "Come on, let's hug it out."

Taehyun lets out a slightly annoyed groan as he and Yeonjun become the center of the group hug, but Hueningkai knows he secretly loves it. And the warmth and love Hueningkai feels when Beomgyu reaches over to tousle his hair, Soobin squeezes his shoulder and Yeonjun eyes him fondly...he really needed this. They all really needed this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have been simultaneously dreading and looking forward to writing this confrontation. Hope is such a strong force: makes a man fall to his knees without it or rise to the occasion when he has it. TXT is a tight knit group: they'll argue and fight but come out stronger by the end of it. I had major writers block when I first tried starting this chapter. Scrapped it three times before just skipping ahead and writing from Yeonjun snapping till the end before going back to the start. Chapters that I write out of order usually end up longer than normal, especially when there's no satisfying stopping point, so here's 6k for ya!
> 
> If you haven't read them already, TXT's interviews with Vogue Korea were both heart touching and amusing. (you can read English translations on twitter, translatingTXT/Jimin Lee does an amazing job at keeping up with all their content) In particular, I was absolutely losing it at Huneingkai's last response. When asked what fictional universe he'd like to live in for a month, he said 'The Matrix,' since he'd "like to experience a virtual world. Of course, that world wouldn't be too easygoing, but it would be better than a zombie movie, right?" Oh the irony is real.
> 
> Hope you all are enjoying Dream Week! MOA are absolutely getting spoiled, and we still have a concert to look forward to?? Amazing.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed the chapter! I'd love to hear your thoughts! <3
> 
> Edit 3/5 - Next chapter will be a little late, real life is a bit hectic haha.


	8. Chapter 8

Hueningkai sits up with a start. He gasps, a hand clutching the fabric of his shirt above his pounding heart as his eyes quickly sweep the low-lit surroundings. He is still at the Inn, sitting in a pool of silken sheets while Taehyun and Soobin are fast asleep in their own beds. It was just a nightmare, just a bad dream.

The darkness of the room makes him feel claustrophobic, like a lead weight is on his chest, so he gets up and leaves the room quietly, not wanting to wake the others when they were savoring their silk and cotton clouds.

The cool outside air caresses his flushed cheeks and he finally takes his first deep breath. The tension in his shoulders evaporates and he slumps in relief against the guardrail as he tries to even out his breathing. Even when his heart and lungs have settled back into a regular rhythm, he knows he can't fall back asleep, his mind is simply too restless, so he stays on the ramp, admiring the calming view, letting the lingering traces of the bad dream fade from thought.

The moon had already dipped below the horizon, so the only light source is the moonwell. It casts a cool blue light over the town. Like a soft night light, it was bright enough to see general shapes but not details. Predawn light gradually brightens the land, and with it comes the calling of birds. First just a single voice, then another and another join in. He sees a few chase each other around the branches, trilling and fluffing out their feathers as they playfully squabble, bringing a soft smile to his face.

Suddenly, the cute singing is cut through with a different, sharper tune, and the birds seem to scatter. Hueningkai looks around, trying to figure out what could have startled them. He catches sight of a white owl, gliding across the clearing the town resides in. The majestic creature circles in the air a few times before, to Hueningkai’s surprise, it decides to land on the bannister a few feet away. It folds its long wings against its back, turning a pair of large brown eyes towards him. The owl is gorgeous, snowy white with a speckling of black and faint grey. It has cute feathery tufts atop its head that almost look like ears. It tilts its head at him curiously before stepping closer. He stands back and removes his hands from the railing as the owl continues to close the distance until it is directly in front of him. It lets out a soft hoot before ducking its head a few times, looking up at him with wide eyes. It almost seems like...

"Do...do you want me to pet you?"

The owl hoots softly and sways its upper body side to side in reply. Hueningkai chuckles. It's obviously used to humans, probably a very friendly pet of someone, so he reaches out a hand and gently strokes its head. The owl closes its eyes, enjoying the attention. Its feathers are smooth and petting it calms Hueningkai further.

"You're a very nice bird, and pretty too."

The owl preens under the praise, making Hueningkai chuckle. It certainly had a lot of character.

"Thank you, I needed a laugh after that nightmare."

The owl looks up at him with its big, big eyes. It tilts its head, nuzzling into his hand as it coos softly.

"I'm fine now, I promise, but thanks for your concern."

As Hueningkai starts stroking down its neck, his fingers slide across something that feels very different from the rest of its cloud soft feathers. He furrows his brow, tucking his finger underneath it, sliding along to reveal a necklace tucked amongst the feathers. A leather necklace with tiny gemstones and feathers.

His hand drops to the side and he looks into the owl's large brown eyes with a start. "...Beomgyu??"

The owl bobs its head up and down before cocking its head to the side in question.

Hueningkai takes a step back. "I thought you were just an owl! What are you doing up?"

Beomgyu hops off the bannister before shifting back into human form. "Sorry, thought my coloration was a dead giveaway. I was scouting ahead a little, making sure things haven't changed drastically since we were last here." He looks softly at Hueningkai. "You said you had a nightmare?"

Hueningkai ducks his head, his ears heating up. "Y...yeah."

Beomgyu pats his shoulder. "Nothing to be embarrassed about, everyone gets them. I won’t pry, but if you ever want to talk about it, I'm all ears, ok?"

Hueningkai looks up into his sincere brown eyes. A small smile curls his lips. "Thanks, Beomgyu."

Beomgyu grins widely in response. He pats Hueningkai’s shoulder again. "Let's head in before the others wake up and start turning everything upside down to find you."

Hueningkai and Beomgyu re-enter the room, the light spilling in enough to cause Taehyun's face to scrunch up. The two close the door and quietly sit down on their beds while Taehyun groans quietly and rubs his face into his pillow. He blinks open his eyes, looking over at Hueningkai as he laces up his boots and smiles softly down at his unintentionally cute friend.

"Whader you doin' up?" Taehyun asks in a sleep slurred voice.

"Just woke up, is all," he replies. "Unlike the past few days, I'm usually not the last to get out of bed. Guess I just got used to only waking to my song alarm."

"Voices are our alarms," Yeonjun says in a rumbly tone, shifting into a seated position as he rubs his eyes.

"Shoot," Hueningkai covers his mouth with a hand, "sorry!"

Yeonjun huffs with a smile as he scratches his cheek. "We normally wake up around now," he reassures, looking through the window across the room. His eyes shift to the last sleeping occupant. "Sleeping beauty still out?"

"If I pretend to still be asleep, maybe it'll become true," Soobin says, refusing to open his eyes.

A smirk curls Hueningkai's lips as an idea pops into his head. His eyes dart to Yeonjun as he sets his feet on the ground. From his expression, they seem to have the same idea. The two softly pad over to opposite sides of Soobin's bed. On a silently communicated count of three, they fall on top of Soobin. His shout of surprise is drowned out by the two's laughter. Hueningkai may have gotten an elbow to the gut, but Soobin's pout and narrowed eyes were worth it.

He closes his eyes again and dramatically drops his head back to his pillow with a groan. "Children, all of you."

Yeonjun perches on the bed’s edge and pinches his squishy cheek. "Aww, but you love us."

"Sure, Yeonjun-noona, whatever you say."

Hueningkai laughs, delighted that the joke was universal. Yeonjun groans. “I skipped the barbershop one time, and I’ll never live it down, huh?”

“Of course not,” Soobin says, patting Yeonjun’s cheek, “because I love you _so_ much.”

“Yeonjun-noona,” Hueningkai sings, stroking his head, “how could we ever forget those long pink locks?”

His eyes widen. “Yours too?” He groans at the younger’s smirk. “It was one month!”

“Not the worst thing you’ll never live down,” Taehyun says, sitting up and stretching his arms above his head.

Hueningkai’s eyes twinkle in interest. “Oh? I’d love to hear those stories.” He had known Yeonjun for about five years and there were plenty of stories to tell, but the Taehyun of this world had known him since childhood. Hueningkai could not imagine the antics he pulled as a child and teen.

Yeonjun stands abruptly. “Boy, I’m hungry, how about you, Hueningkai?” He wraps an arm around Hueningkai’s shoulders, pulling him along. He stops momentarily to shove his feet into his boots lightning-fast, then continues to drag Hueningkai towards the door. “Let’s go see if breakfast is ready!”

Hueningkai laughs, letting Yeonjun tug him along. He can always ask Taehyun later. Right now, he wanted to savor Yeonjun finally acting like himself, finally acting like his hyung.

Downstairs, breakfast is already laid out on the table they ate at last night: a pitcher of milk, a platter of fresh fruit, and a basket of baked goods. The female elf is not behind the counter, probably in the back room.

Yeonjun points out a few pastries he knows Hueningkai will enjoy and puts about five onto his own plate. _He wasn’t wrong_ , Hueningkai thinks, licking a bit of strawberry jam from his lip after his first bite. The others join them soon after and the food is quickly eaten up.

Soobin clears his throat after he empties his glass. “So, I talked with the archdruid yesterday after handing off the report. Actually ended up with another note to deliver, but that’s beside the point. He said the goblins have been quiet as of late, but it would still be much safer to take the path through the forest.”

Beomgyu nods. “That’s what I saw from my scouting this morning, too. They seem to be moving more towards the northwest, away from the road, but why chance an encounter when we don’t have to.”

Soobin nods. “Right. Let’s pack up, then head out.”

They return to their room and use the restroom, prep weapons, and Yeonjun straps on his armor. Hueningkai pulls out Luther and hangs it across his back. He strokes the leather strap with mixed feelings. Life and death were so closely tied to one another, two sides of the same coin. Hueningkai healed his members and they went on to kill their adversaries. It was simply the way of things here in Azeroth, but Hueningkai wasn't raised with this mindset of kill or be killed. He reassured himself with the fact that it was all in self-defense. They never went looking for a fight, it simply came to them, and there was no reasoning with a rabid bear or a starving wolf or a mindless pile of goo.

A hand landing on his shoulder startles him out of his musings. “Kai, are you ready to go?” Soobin asks.

Hueningkai nods. “Yeah, of course.”

After one last look around the room to make sure they didn’t leave anything behind, Yeonjun locks the door and they head back downstairs. The white haired elf is behind the counter again, and accepts the key back with a customer service smile. “Safe journeys,” she wishes them, and then they leave the Inn behind.

Instead of heading back to the main road, they leave town by following the bluff Hueningkai and Yeonjun sat on last night until they reach a portion that, while still steep, is traversable. The party keeps the Irontree Ancients to their backs and heads towards the towering mountains to the southeast. The valley is devoid of most vegetation, only short brown and red grass and the occasional bush. It is the largest open space Hueningkai has seen so far. Beomgyu’s shoulders once more make a tense line now that they have departed the green Grove. Hueningkai wraps an arm around him in comfort and he smiles in thanks.

Across the wide-open valley, Hueningkai sees some stone pillars. Some lie in broken pieces across the grey earth while others jut proudly out of the flat landscape, still supporting an arch or bit of ceiling. As they draw nearer, he notices geometric patterns carved into the moss-covered stone and even a statue of a stately male elf with his nose, if it was still present, held high.

“Ancient elf ruins,” Beomgyu says beside him. “Probably abandoned around the time of the Sundering.”

“How can you tell?” Hueningkai asks curiously.

“You notice how all the modern elven buildings we’ve been in are made of wood? After the Sundering, elves completely swore off arcane magic, don’t make the same mistake twice and all that, and switched to only using nature and light magic. To feel even closer to nature, they started living in it.”

"Wait, wait, elves caused the Sundering? With the same magic Taehyun uses?"

"Well…" Beomgyu puts a hand to his chin, "yes and no? Uh, Taehyun, help me out here."

Taehyun turns slightly, refusing to let go of Yeonjun's arm completely. "It was really the demons' fault, but elves' careless use of arcane magic is what attracted them to Azeroth in the first place."

"Demons are a thing? Not just bad vibes but like physical beings?" Hueningkai asks.

"Yeah, they come from a couple different planets far, far away and hop from planet to planet, reveling in destruction."

So demons were aliens. Really, he shouldn't be shocked at this point, Azeroth defied all expectations, but just the thought is so odd, the images of a red horned devil and a green big-eyed alien clashing in his head. He straightens up with a start. "Wait, interplanetary travel is common? You have that kind of technology?"

Yeonjun raises a brow at Hueningkai. "Dunno what you mean, but yeah, we hop over to the Outlands and Draenor all the time with portals."

"You mentioned those before, they're other planets?"

"Same planet, different timelines. It's... complicated," Taehyun says with a laugh at the understatement. "Goes hand in hand with time magic."

Hueningkai nods. "Oh, I can only imagine."

"Is traveling to other planets not common for you?" Soobin pipes up from behind.

"Ah, no, not really. We obviously don't have portals to work with, so some really smart guys built spaceships." Hueningkai uses his hands to talk. "They're big metal tubes with people inside that get launched up into space. It was a really big achievement when man first walked on the moon."

"That's so interesting!" Taehyun says, eyes sparkling with intrigue. "I don't think anyone's ever been to either of Azeroth's moons before."

"Wait, there's more than one?" Hueningkai asks, surprised. "How could I miss that!"

"There're two moons: the White Lady and Blue Child." Beomgyu looks up to the sky and points. "There, you can see the Blue Child right there."

Hueningkai follows Beomgyu's finger and sees a slightly darker blue circle in the sky. It's small, way smaller than the Earth's moon or even the silvery white one Hueningkai had seen even just last night, which must be the White Lady.

"Wow, two moons, that's so cool," Hueningkai says, his eyes still drinking in the sight of the unique celestial body.

"It's no wonder you missed it, it's a lot harder to spot in the daytime," Soobin says. "‘The Child plays with its father in the spring and summer and joins its mother in the fall and winter,’ lot easier to see then."

Hueningkai stumbles over a stone but Beomgyu keeps him from falling. "Careful now, the Blue Child isn't going anywhere."

"Thanks," he says abashedly, keeping a better eye on where they were going.

Rocks and small stones become more common as they near the edge of the valley. Again, they find a gently sloping piece of land to ascend out of the valley and onto a plateau that butts up against the foot of the mountains. Small trees are scattered across the area, not nearly as dense as the rest of the forest they had traversed the day prior. It's what made the wolves so easy to spot.

Beomgyu tenses beside himself before shouting, "Two wolves, two o'clock!" He shifts to cat form and takes Taehyun's place at the front of the party along with Yeonjun while Taehyun and Soobin join Hueningkai. Swinging Luther into position, he sets his fingers upon the strings, ready for anything.

The wolves are slightly smaller than the ones they faced yesterday but their eyes held a light the others did not, like they still had reason. They stare at the party from the woods, cautiously observing the dangerous prey before them.

"Keep moving," Soobin says softly, eyes still locked onto the silent predators, "they're not crazed, so if we don't have to confront them, we won't."

The party starts moving forward again, slowly, weapons drawn and tense. Yeonjun still heads the group, but Beomgyu circles them, always keeping himself between the wolves and his brothers. The wolves follow them at a distance, eyes sharp, waiting for them to show any weakness. When they grow a bit too bold and try to close the gap, Beomgyu flashes his fangs and snarls, and the wolves quickly retreat.

Hueningkai starts to hear a low rumble that grows in volume with every step. He looks around apprehensively, trying to figure out what it is, but oddly enough no one else seems phased. Finally, he sees the source of the noise. Water spills down the mountainside, tumbling and foaming, crashing into a small pool before flowing off to the left. The water is clear and clean at the source, but noticeably becomes more tinted down the river length. Unlike the other rivers they had encountered though, there is no bridge to cross it, instead just a single log lays across the span. The group pauses and gathers up.

Yeonjun lets out a long breath. “We just have to make it across, they’ll probably stop following after that.” Hueningkai eyes the log nervously. It was thick, about a foot in diameter, but it was still such a narrow surface to walk across.

“It’s more stable than you think,” Soobin reassures, “strong enough for even a tauren to cross. Little tricky to walk on, but it’s firmly wedged on both sides.”

“Yeonjun should go first, then myself, Kai, Soobin and Beomgyu,” Taehyun says.

Beomgyu chuffs his agreement. The tip of his tail flicks back and forth, his eyes still firmly on the two opportunistic wolves as the rest of the party turn their attention to the river crossing.

“Alright,” Yeonjun says, sheathing his sword and putting his shield on his back, “let’s make this quick.”

With his arms stretched out for balance, Yeonjun places his right foot onto the log then takes a step. Just like Soobin said, it is stable and doesn’t shift even a millimeter as Yeonjun makes his way across. Taehyun takes a deep breath, straightening his shoulders, then follows agilely right after, and all too soon it is Hueningkai’s turn. He eyes the rushing water below the cliff’s edge. It’s about an eight-foot drop and the height makes him feel nauseous. There's no bungee cord to catch him if he falls.

“Kai,” Taehyun calls and Hueningkai’s eyes snap up to his face across the span, “it’s going to be alright. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other and you’ll be across before you know it.”

Soobin gives him a reassuring squeeze on his shoulder. “Just focus on your feet, and it will be fine.”

Hueningkai nods stiffly. He puts his hands out to his sides and with a deep breath places his first foot atop the log. The curved surface is odd to balance on, but manageable. Hueningkai thanks his years of dance practice. He takes one step, then another, and another. It’s all going well, until his toe catches on a knot in the log. He stumbles, falling forward and catching the log in a tight grip, his left leg tucked beneath him while his right hangs off the side.

His group mates shout in worry, but he can barely hear them over his heart that is suddenly in his throat. His limbs shake and the water looks miles away, churning and swirling so far below, ready to swallow him up.

“Kai!” Hueningkai hears Yeonjun’s voice above the din in his head. “Kai, look at me!”

He lifts his head. Yeonjun is crouched at the foot of the log, eyes blown wide but firmly capturing Hueningkai’s. Taehyun is beside him, gripping Yeonjun’s shoulder tightly and biting his lip in worry.

“Kai, you are almost across, just a little bit more,” Yeonjun reassures. “Do you think you can stand?”

“N-no,” Hueningkai says shakily.

“Alright, that’s fine. Then you can just crawl, okay? Can you do that for me?”

His eyes drift down, back to the river, the swirling white foam and-

“Focus on your hands, Kai! Focus on the log: it’s strong and safe and it won’t let you fall, alright?”

He follows Yeonjun’s advice, keeping his eyes locked on his hands, focusing on moving forward inch by inch, the shouted encouragement from Soobin, Yeonjun and Taehyun helping him along. After what feels like a long time, after an endless sequence of right hand, left hand, right hand, left hand, there are two sets of arms wrapping him tight, pulling him in and grounding him.

“We’ve got you, Kai, we’ve got you,” Yeonjun rumbles in his ear.

“It’s over, you’re safe,” Taehyun says from his other side.

Hueningkai holds them tight, praising the firm ground beneath them as he catches his breath. What seems like just a moment later, a large set of hands rubs his shoulders in comfort. Hueningkai turns slightly, catching sight of Soobin, who smiles at him, relief in his eyes. A few minutes later, the cuddle pile is bowled over by a mountain of striped fur. Beomgyu butts his head against Hueningkai’s chest, chuffing and making little worried sounds in the back of his throat. He hugs the tiger tightly. “I’m good now, Beomie, I’m good.”

Hueningkai looks up. Across the river, he can see the retreating backs of the wolves slip between the trees, off to find easier prey. He closes his eyes and sighs.

The party slowly gets to their feet and starts walking once more. Taehyun and Soobin attach themselves to either side of Hueningkai while Beomgyu takes up the rear and Yeonjun forges ahead. The terrain starts sloping upward, making the trek a little more tiresome. The ground beneath them becomes a little firmer, packed tighter, obviously a well-worn trail by the lack of grass.

Eventually, the trees thin out, and Hueningkai gets a clear view of the enormous tree he saw yesterday. It’s a little smaller than the Inn back at the Grove, but still dwarfs all of its surroundings with its enormous size. The bark is nearly black and the streaks of blue are in fact rivulets of water flowing down the trunk. There are pieces of stone intermingled with the wood that Hueningkai vaguely recognizes as pieces of a moonwell, like the torii gate that hangs high above amongst its branches. Up ahead, Hueningkai starts to notice some defenses set up surrounding the Glade. There are sharpened logs embedded in the ground, a primitive line of defense probably more for wildlife than humanoids. At the top of the hill appears to be a guard post of some kind. It's a simple wooden platform atop which a grey armored figure stands watching their approach. It's only when they are nearly upon it that Hueningkai realizes the figure is neither human nor elf nor any other race he has encountered so far. The grey is not entirely from its armor, it is also the color of its fur which seems to coat the figure from the pointed ears atop its head down to the clawed paws it has for feet. It has a long white muzzle ending in a black nose and amber eyes that watch the party carefully. It is a strange cross between a human and a canine, very much reminding Hueningkai of a werewolf.

"Wha'cha 'ere fo'?" the guard asks in a heavily accented feminine voice. He'd have to hear more to be sure, but it sounds very similar to a British accent.

"Just passing through," Soobin replies. "I hope the Denmother is doing well?"

The guard barks a laugh, brushing her long black locks of hair over her shoulder. "Yea, see fo' ye'self, love." It's a little uncanny to see a canine face grin with a mouth full of pointed teeth, but it seems to be in a friendly way so Hueningkai tries not to let it bother him too much.

They pass the watchtower and finally reach the crest of the hill. The path beneath their feet is now paved with smooth grey stones, leading up to the large tree then off to the left out of town. Near its roots are a couple elven houses and a few cottages of a different design, made of stone and wood with multiple gables on the roof. Immediately to the left is a little lake with a large wooden dock, perfect for fishing if the water didn't have a light green tinge. Elves, a few humans, and more of the werewolves mill about the town, barely giving the party more than a cursory glance.

"Gilneans," Taehyun says softly beside him. "Once humans, a curse changed them into beasts called worgens. The druids helped them to regain their humanity, and now they can shift between their two forms."

"Does that mean they all can do nature magic? Like, are they all druids now too?"

"No," Beomgyu shakes his head. "If they didn't have an affinity before being changed, they don't have one after. And their transformations aren't like a druid shifting, it takes a lot longer, and I've heard it's quite painful, too."

Hueningkai hums and tries not to stare despite how interested he is.

The party continues to walk forward, towards the massive tree. They pass through an arch between some of its roots. The ground dips slightly and Hueningkai has to blink a few times to adjust his eyes. Underneath the tree, the water that flows down its trunk collects into a small pool that shimmers and twinkles and surrounds a small stone shrine. It is edged in small smooth stones and takes up the back half of the area, the other half consisting of what looks like a few craftsman stalls. A Gilnean woman with black and blue fur sits beside the pool and stands as the party approaches her, Soobin in the lead.

"Greetings, Denmother," he bows his head in greeting which she returns with a pleased look in her eyes. "I come bearing a report from the Grove." He pulls a wax sealed letter from his bag and hands it to her. She takes it, Hueningkai noticing that in addition to long claws, her hands also pads on her palm and fingertips.

"Thank you, travelers." Her accent is barely noticeable, and her tone is simultaneously kind and maternal but also rough and gravely. She smiles and waves a hand. "Rest up well; you are safe in my den."

Soobin nods. "Thank you, Denmother."

The party leaves through the root arch on the left and emerges among the townspeople's houses. Yeonjun speeds up and overtakes Soobin. "There's one place I have to stop by." He leaves the party behind and approaches a small wooden caravan with an awning hanging over the open side. One sniff tells Hueningkai exactly what they sell: food.

Soobin snorts and shouts, “You’re going to ruin your appetite for lunch!”

“How can you ruin something with snacks?” Yeonjun shouts back. He exchanges a few coins and thanks with the shopkeeper, then is husting back with a bag of brightly colored sweets and a grin on his face. “Nobody makes butterscotch better than a Gilnean!” He glances at Soobin’s back as they continue down the path before covertly slipping one into Hueningkai’s palm with a wink.

Hueningkai snorts, but quietly unwraps the treat and pops it into his mouth. Dang, they are _really_ good.

Soobin finally turns off the main road once they reach the edge of the housing area. There is a small ring of stones with evidence of past fires along with a few logs to sit on.

“Ah shoot, be right back,” Beomgyu says, “I’ll buy a few logs from a local.” He turns and heads back the way they came while the rest settle around the firepit. Soobin pulls out their cutlery and some vegetables while Yeonjun selects a few pieces of venison to roast. Beomgyu returns shortly after and Taehyun helps him get the fire going. Hueningkai twiddles his thumbs, a little lost on how he can help out.

Soobin notices and hands him a small knife and a basket of potatoes. “Could you please peel these for me?”

He smiles gratefully. “Sure, no problem.”

It doesn’t take long for the five of them to prepare lunch, and an even shorter amount of time to devour it. As they sit around the barely smoldering fire digesting, Taehyun turns to Hueningkai. “The song you sang before was really pretty, do you have others?”

Hueningkai grins. “Of course!” He pulls out Luther, testing the tuning and slightly adjusting a few strings. He plays a few notes idlily, trying to figure out what to play. When he glances up, he catches sight of Soobin scratching one of his long ears and is inspired. He starts strumming the opening to ‘Nap of a Star’ and sings along. It’s been so long since he’d sung this song, he had honestly forgotten how sad but hopeful the lyrics were. Dreaming of the past, reliving the memories, wishing to be together in the future … their story songs, even though tonally so different, told the same tale.

When he finishes, there’s praise all around the firepit. He ducks his head but thanks them in kind. He plays a few more random songs that pop into his head before Soobin says it is regretfully time to get back onto the road. Everyone helps finish picking up after themselves and then they are off, leaving Talonbranch Glade on the northbound path.

As they head back into the woods, Hueningkai thinks to himself, _Another step closer to home, another step closer to the dream_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mostly just a transition chapter, but there are a few interesting bits in here. I struggled a bit at first trying to figure out how to follow up the last chapter: there was so much going on and it was so emotional, how could I possibly top that?! I really had to remind myself that last chapter was like a midseason finale, of course the chapter after is going to pale in comparison.
> 
> Apologies for being a bit late, everything just kinda came at me all at the same time: large homework assignments, students in the lab I TA for needing help, lots of research samples needing to be processed...grad life be like that sometimes haha. Still trying to aim for week-ish updates, but week and a half to two week updates are probably going to be more common for the rest of semester.
> 
> I went back and reread the lyrics to 'Nap of a Star' for the first time in a long while and was just shocked. _They reference blue hour in their first +u song._ Talk about planning and keeping a long running theme.
> 
> And it's almost Beomgyu's birthday! There's a really cute scene with him that I wanted to get to before then, but it's probably not going to be until ch 9/10 that it happens cause everyone's so chatty ahaha. Enjoy your cake, hope the others don't tease you too much on the VLive!
> 
> Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed!!! <3


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